Kevin McGonigle plates four runs in win on Friday

Blake’s contract was expiring, and he would have been in considerable demand around the league had he opted to look around. Instead, he’ll remain the Yankees’ pitching coach, a role he’s held since the 2020 season.

Yelich got the Brewers on the board first with a run-scoring triple off of Nick Martinez in the home half of the first inning. He then scored on an RBI single by William Contreras. That was his lone hit in the ballgame but played a major role in the Brewers’ taking a 1-0 lead in the Series. Expect the 34-year-old slugger to be back near the top of the lineup for Saturday night’s showdown against Rays’ right-hander Drew Rasmussen.

Chourio led off the home half of the first inning with a single off of Nick Martinez, then raced around to score the game’s first run on an RBI triple by Christian Yelich. The 22-year-old superstar also plated a run of his own with a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning that increased the Brewers’ advantage to 3-1 and proved to be the difference in the ballgame. The Brewers will look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead when they take on Rays’ right-hander Drew Rasmussen on Saturday evening in Milwaukee.

It wasn’t the smoothest of innings for Megill by any means, as he allowed one-out singles to Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson and walked Junior Caminero to load the bases. He then got Liam Hicks to ground into what looked to be a game-ending double play, but Caminero was ruled safe at second base upon umpire review. Not to fear though, as he battled back to retire Jonny DeLuca on strikes to end the ballgame. Megill needed 20 pitches to get the job done though, which could impact his availability in Game 2 on Saturday.

The flame-throwing right-hander struck out three batters in his World Series debut while issuing one free pass. He came out of the gate throwing smoke, hitting 103.5 mph on his very first pitch — the fastest pitch ever tracked in the World Series. He got seven swings and misses on 78 pitches in the game — five of those on his fastball which averaged 101.1 mph — while registering a CSW of 28 percent. His next assignment is likely to come on regular rest in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Aranda singled off of Jacob Misiorowski in the opening inning, but the Rays were unable to cash him in. He then worked a leadoff walk in the fourth inning and scored on an RBI ground out off the bat of Liam Hicks. He also singled in the sixth inning but was cut down attempting to steal second base. While he did his part on Friday night, the Rays are going to need to find a way to get much more offense in Game 2 on Saturday or they could be facing a 2-0 deficit in the Series.

The 36-year-old hurler racked up five strikeouts on the night and didn’t walk a batter. All of the damage done against him came in the opening inning as Christian Yelich smacked an RBI triple and scored on an RBI single off the bat of William Contreras. After that, Martinez settled in nicely and kept the Brewers off the board for the next four innings. He got 10 swings and misses on 73 pitches on the night — four on his changeup — while posting a CSW of 27 percent. He’ll be ready to take the ball again in Game 4 of 5 depending on how the series progresses.

The 29-year-old right-hander made just two appearances with the Guardians this season, posting a 6.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP and a 4/1 K/BB ratio over three frames. He’ll get an early start on exploring the free agent market.

Turang has been a fixture in the second spot in the Brewers’ lineup in the postseason, but he’ll slide down to the fifth spot in the order with Rays’ right-hander Nick Martinez on the hill on Friday. Jake Bauers moves up to the second spot in the order while Christian Yelich will hit third. Here’s the full lineup that the Brewers will roll out in front of their home faithful and the entire baseball world on Friday night: Jackson Chourio (LF),
Jake Bauers (1B), Christian Yelich (DH), William Contreras (C), Brice Turang (2B), Garrett Mitchell (CF), Cooper Pratt (SS), Sal Frelick (RF) and David Hamilton (3B).

Williamson has been functioning in a short-side platoon role with nearly all of his starts coming against left-handers, so it’s interesting to see him in there against Brewers’ ace Jacob Misiorowski for Game 1. Here’s the full lineup that manager Kevin Cash will deploy as the Rays look to secure the first World Series title in their franchise’s history: Yandy Díaz (DH), Jonathan Aranda (1B), Chandler Simpson (LF), Junior Caminero (3B), Liam Hicks (C), Jonny DeLuca (CF), Victor Mesa Jr. (RF), Ben Williamson (2B) and Taylor Walls (SS).