MILWAUKEE (AP) — Aaron Ashby's playoff struggles in previous years taught him how important it was to avoid getting caught up in the pressure of the moment.
The mindset shift has helped the Milwaukee Brewers left-hander deliver one of the great runs by any reliever in postseason history.
Ashby finished a five-out save after the Brewers rallied from a four-run deficit in a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays for a 2-0 World Series lead Saturday night. He struck out Yandy Díaz to end the game, stranding the potential tying run at third base.
That extended Ashby’s shutout streak this postseason to 15 2/3 innings. According to Sportradar, Cleveland’s Andrew Miller had the longest streak of consecutive scoreless relief innings within one postseason with 16 in 2016. Including the regular season, Ashby has thrown a career-best 20 2/3 straight scoreless innings.
“I don’t know that I have the words to describe it,” the 28-year-old Ashby said of his October success. “Maybe when it’s all said and done.”
Ashby has been one of many outstanding bullpen performers during Milwaukee's postseason run.
Brewers relievers have allowed seven earned runs over 50 2/3 postseason innings. That's helped Milwaukee come from behind in seven of its nine victories.
Ashby's performance is particularly notable because of how he had struggled in previous postseasons.
Before this year, Ashby had allowed nine runs — eight earned — in 9 1/3 playoff innings. He believed he knew the reason why he had come up short.
“Trying to grip it too tight and make too much happen, be too good, throw too hard,” Ashby said. “Any number of things you can do in a big situation when there’s a lot of adrenaline.”
Now he’s reminding himself to take a breath and trust his stuff. The results have his teammates marveling at his poise under pressure.
“He’s just low-key, man,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said after Game 1. “He just goes with the flow. He’s got the same heartbeat every day. He’s been like that for us all season.”
That approach has made Ashby the guy the Brewers trust as much as anyone when a game’s on the line.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy showed his faith in Ashby by bringing him back out for the ninth inning Saturday after he already had gotten the final two outs in the eighth. Ashby allowed a leadoff double to Jonny DeLuca before striking out Victor Mesa Jr. and retiring pinch-hitter Ben Williamson on a grounder to the right side.
That brought up the right-handed-hitting Díaz, who got ahead 3-1 in the count after Ashby threw two pitches in the dirt. Ashby froze him with a backdoor breaking ball to make it 3-2, then Díaz attempted to check his swing but didn’t get the call, throwing up his arms in frustration.
“I didn’t go look at it, but from my vantage point, it did look like that he swung,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Ashby credited catcher William Contreras for guiding him through that final inning.
“I’m just trusting him,” Ashby said. “There’s not a lot of thinking I’ve got to do. He’s locked in right now.”
Murphy was asked after the game how he chose to bring Ashby back out for the ninth rather than using usual closer Trevor Megill.
“Very carefully,” Murphy quipped. “Very carefully.”
Murphy went into much more detail when he described Ashby's ability to have effective relief outings that extend beyond one inning. Ashby had a five-out save and a three-inning save during the Brewers’ NL Championship Series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He does what it takes," Murphy said. “It’s unconventional. Multiple innings in relief. It’s Goose Gossage-like. I guess we had a guy like that here, too: Rollie (Fingers). Multiple-inning relief. Sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes you go with it.”
Ashby has taken a winding road to get to this point.
He signed a five-year, $20.5 million contract in the summer of 2022 as he alternated between starting and relief roles early in his career. He underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery the following April, knocking him out for the entire 2023 season. He was struggling in the minor leagues with a drop in velocity for much of the 2024 season before he started feeling like himself again.
He eventually carved out a niche as a key member of Milwaukee’s bullpen. Now he’s one of the biggest reasons why the Brewers are two victories from winning the World Series for the first time.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates with pitcher Aaron Ashby (26) after the final out of Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Milwaukee, between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby throws during the eighth inning of Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Milwaukee, between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Saudi Arabia reopened its main airport for international flights, more than two weeks after deadly strikes by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels knocked the facility out of service. Earlier Sunday, the kingdom said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis.
Meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with a broad military operation in the occupied West Bank in response to an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three in the city of Hebron on Friday. It comes just days ahead of Israel’s tense election on Tuesday.
The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and security policies during the past three years of war.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.
The King Khalid International Airport said it has opened terminals 1 and 2 for domestic and international flights, starting Sunday.
The airport announcement came as the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen continued to fire drones and missiles toward the Saudi capital.
Saudi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis toward the kingdom's capital early on Sunday, as well as 10 ballistic missiles headed toward the southern region.
In early October, Houthi strikes hit a complex housing two other terminals, killing 17 people and wounding over 330.
Last week, the Riyadh airport opened to limited domestic flights.
The Israeli military on Sunday announced new restrictions in the occupied West Bank, barring Palestinian laborers from jobs in Israeli settlements, as it pressed ahead with a crackdown following a deadly attack that killed two Israeli soldiers.
Israel launched the crackdown following Friday’s attack, carrying out arrests and building demolitions in Hebron, the site of the attack. The municipality says some 2,200 people have been displaced.
The operation comes as Israel enters the final days before a tense election, the first since the 2023 Hamas-led attacks and ensuing wars in the region.
Israel also closed several crossings in the territory.
The AID Coalition, a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on strengthening Israel’s democracy, says tens of thousands of Israelis living abroad are expected to fly in for the vote.
Israeli law generally requires citizens to vote in person in the country, with narrow exceptions for diplomats and certain official emissaries abroad.
Israel has more than 7.3 million registered voters, but polling suggests a tight race. Previous elections have turned on thin margins. It’s unclear what effect these voters from abroad might have, but many liberal Israelis who don’t support Netanyahu have left the country in recent years, suggesting that those returning to cast ballots would not support him.
Iran’s foreign minister vowed on Sunday that new threats of war will not budge Iran from its policies.
“Today, again war is being spoken about, but I am thinking about post-war status, whether a war occurs or not, our policies will remain in place,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a group of diplomats in Tehran.
He also warned the U.S. against renewing strikes on Iran and repeated past statements that Tehran is ready to cooperate with neighboring Arab nations in the Persian Gulf.
“Everything has changed in our region," he said. "After the recent war, nothing will be like the past.”
The head of one of Libya’s rival governments rejected comments by U.S. President Donald Trump in which he added the North African nation to a list of countries he described as “terror-infested.”
Writing on social media, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said he rejected “any affront” to his country or its people “who have made great sacrifices in the fight against terrorism.”
At a campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump accused the Democrats of trying to open the United States for “armies of migrants from terror-infested countries like Libya, Yemen, Haiti, Somalia.”
Libya plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising turned civil war that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country is divided between rival administrations, each backed by different armed groups and foreign governments.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army operation in the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. A day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends an anti-government rally ahead of the country's general election, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends an anti-government protest ahead of Israel's general election, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki speaks during a press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
