One of the reasons that the Tampa Bay Rays have won the American League Pennant and are facing the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series is how fundamentally sound they play on the field.

The Rays would overwhelm opponents with their style of play, constantly putting pressure on them with their ability to put the ball in play. A sound defensive club, they rarely made the kind of mistakes that would sink a team.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Game 2. Tampa Bay had an uncharacteristically sloppy performance, and the Brewers took full advantage. Despite facing a 4-0 deficit before even taking their first at-bats, Milwaukee continued to chip away and took full advantage of the miscues the Rays made, pulling off a 5-4 comeback victory after taking Game 1, 3-2.

The Brewers got back into the game immediately, scoring two runs off Drew Rasmussen in the bottom of the first. It was the first time that the Tampa Bay ace looked human in the postseason, allowing three earned runs in 3.2 innings, as he has mowed down the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians previously.

Rays self-inflicted wounds put team into 0-2 hole

Tampa Bay was charged with only one error in the game, but there were a few plays they would love to have back. The only error was charged to Jonathan Aranda in the fourth inning when he failed to field a sharply hit ground ball that allowed Cooper Pratt to score.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Chandler Simpson looked to lose a ball hit to left field, with shortstop Taylor Walls also pursuing the ball into the outfield. Simpson made a diving attempt and looked to secure the ball, but it popped out of his glove to keep the inning going.

That didn’t end up costing the Rays a win, but it was a microcosm of them not playing as cleanly as they normally do.

It was certainly disappointing to see Ian Seymour give up a left-on-left home run to Sam Frelick that tied the game up and Tyler Wells being charged with the go-ahead fifth run when Cooper Pratt singled off Kevin Kelly.

Going toe-to-toe with the Milwaukee bullpen isn’t a recipe for success, and the Rays learned that the hard way. Their offense went ice-cold after the first inning, failing to produce a run the remainder of the game.

At the end of the day, that lack of offensive production was the biggest Achilles’ heel for Tampa Bay, and it reared its ugly head again at the worst time in Game 2 of the World Series, when their ace didn’t have his best stuff.