Freddy Peralta did not sound like a man in the middle of an ALCS when he emerged from the visitors’ clubhouse at Progressive Field on Saturday night.
“I’m just a reliever,” Peralta said with a smile. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
The joke fit the moment, but the role he filled was anything but minor. Peralta, a two-time All-Star starter, was asked to give Tampa Bay something extra in Game 4, and he delivered exactly that. His two outs in the sixth inning helped protect a one-run lead, and the Rays rolled to a 7-3 victory to even the American League Championship Series at 2.
Nick Martinez did most of the heavy lifting with a terrific start, but when his night ended with one out in the bottom of the sixth, Peralta was the one who came in and finished the job. Martinez didn’t miss the significance.
“He saved me,” Martinez said. “He saved our game today.”
The path to that appearance was a little unusual, but it was not improvised. Peralta had already been lined up for a bullpen session on Saturday, the kind starters usually throw around the middle of the stretch between outings. Instead, Tampa Bay turned that session into a live, high-pressure inning.
“With a lot more intensity,” a smiling Peralta said. “I never throw my bullpens probably over 88 mph. So, that’s the only difference.”
The Rays had already readied him for a similar possibility on Friday, when he would have been available out of the bullpen if Game 4 had not been postponed because of inclement weather. Once the game was pushed to Saturday, the plan stayed intact.
No one around the Rays seemed surprised. Peralta has been electric since arriving in a trade from the Mets on Aug. 2, and teammates were quick to point to the same thing: he’ll do whatever the club asks.
“I don’t think anyone was surprised with that,” catcher Liam Hicks said. “He’s such a good person, such a good teammate.
You can tell all he wants to do is win. It’s really cool to see that guy stepping up, really willing to do any role that the team asks of him just to get wins.”
Peralta’s recent experience in relief is limited, but the blueprint was there. His last bullpen outing came with the Brewers in Game 3 of the 2024 National League Wild Card Series against the Mets. Before that, he spent a big chunk of his early Milwaukee career in relief, especially in 2019 and 2020, when 45 of his 54 appearances came out of the bullpen.
So when he entered in the sixth with a runner on first and one out, he looked like a pitcher who knew exactly how to attack the moment. He got Steven Kwan to fly out to center, then after walking José Ramírez, he retired Chase DeLauter on another fly ball to center to close the inning. The nine-pitch sequence included four strikes, and his four-seam fastball averaged 97.5 mph and touched 99.1.
“He was all eager to come in and do it. Then showed why,” manager Kevin Cash said.
“A lot of power. Got huge outs for us.”
Peralta had already started ALCS Game 2, working six scoreless innings in Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win, and he is likely to start Game 6, which is now set for Monday night at Tropicana Field. After Drew Rasmussen takes the ball for Game 5 on Sunday, Peralta appears to be the most likely option for Monday.
Peralta said he’ll be ready for that next start, though he didn’t say when it will come. For him, Saturday was simply another way to help the team, even if it meant throwing earlier in the day and then stepping into a game in relief.
“Amazing, man. It was a huge game for us, because now, we tied the series,” Peralta said. “We have the opportunity to win tomorrow again, and then go back to Tampa.”
In Other News...
Kevin Cashs Game 4 Pitching Move Changed The Rays ALCS Stakes
The Rays found a way to change the tone of the American League Championship Series in Game 4, and part of it came from a move that gave Kevin Cash a little more flexibility than usual. Freddy Peralta, who had already started and won Game 2, was available out of the bullpen for the 7-3 win over Cleveland, and Cash said the right-hander was eager to help in whatever role the team needed. Peralta handled a brief outing well, giving Tampa Bay another arm when the game tightened and helping the Rays even the series at two games apiece.
The bigger picture now shifts to Game 5, where the pitching plan becomes even more important with the ALCS hanging in the balance. Cash confirmed Drew Rasmussen will get the start, and the Rays enter the next game with a chance to take control after surviving a pivotal swing game on the road. For a club that has leaned into creative usage all October, the question is no longer just who starts, but how far Cash is willing to push his options as the series moves into its most pressure-packed stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Finally Found What They Needed With Season On The Line
With their season hanging in the balance, the Rays found the steadiness they had been searching for and forced the Guardians to keep playing under pressure. Tampa Bay mixed timely offense with crisp work in the field and enough pitching to keep Cleveland from ever fully settling in, a combination that was missing when the series tilted toward the brink.
Victor Mesa Jr. helped set the tone with a standout defensive sequence, while Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero supplied the kind of offense the Rays needed to stay alive. Nick Martinez and Foster Griffin handled the mound duties as Tampa Bay extended its lead late, taking advantage when Cleveland's defense slipped and turning a tight postseason game into one the Rays could finally control. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Turn To An Unusual Rallying Cry In Must-Win Game 4
Down 2-1 in the ALCS against the Guardians, the Rays are looking for any edge they can find as they head into a must-win Game 4, and Richie Palacios has turned to an unlikely source for motivation. He framed Tampa Bays spot against Cleveland through the lens of an NBA playoff team that faced a similar hole, using that comeback as a reminder that a series can swing fast when a club finds the right urgency at the right time.
Palacios went a step further by mapping some of the Rays own personalities onto the kind of roles that tend to drive those postseason runs, suggesting there are players in the clubhouse who fit the tough, relentless mold those teams lean on. It is the sort of clubhouse mindset that can sound like a rallying cry or a stretch depending on how the game goes, but for the Rays, the bigger point is simple enough: they need Game 4 to feel like the start of something, not the end. [Read more 🡒]