Freddy Peralta gave the Rays exactly the kind of start they needed Wednesday in Detroit: six shutout innings, only two hits allowed, and a reminder of the pitcher who won 17 games last season.
Tampa Bay rode that outing to a 3-0 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park, with Kevin Kelly and Tyler Wells finishing off the final three innings. Detroit managed just those two hits all afternoon.
Peralta struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. The only damage against him came on opposite-field singles by Dillon Dingler in the second inning and Brett Callahan in the sixth. It was the sort of sharp, efficient work that looked familiar to anyone who watched him dominate the National League last August, when he went 4-0 with an 0.32 ERA for the Brewers.
That version of Peralta had been missing this season. He entered Wednesday at 5-11 with a 5.33 ERA between Tampa Bay and the Mets, who traded him on Aug. 2 for three prospects. Since arriving with the Rays, he had been 0-2 with a 7.17 ERA in four starts.
Tampa Bay didn’t give him much room for error, but it didn’t need to. The Rays struck first in the second inning against Tigers starter Troy Melton, who came in with a 1.70 ERA.
Chandler Simpson hustled out an infield single, then scored all the way from first when Jonny DeLuca ripped a ball to the left-field corner. Cedric Mullins followed with a two-out single that brought DeLuca home, though Mullins was thrown out trying to take second.
Kelly handled the seventh and eighth with complete control, retiring all six batters he faced. Wells then worked a perfect ninth to lock up the save on his 32nd birthday.
Before the game, Shane McClanahan had sounded confident about what Peralta could become in Tampa Bay, pointing to the work he’s done with pitching coach Kyle Snyder.
“Great person. Great competitor.
A great teammate and he’s been a workhorse so far, taking the ball,” McClanahan said. “And, you know, he’s only going to get better for us.
That relationship with Snydes is going to grow and get deeper, and he’s going to be the best version of himself very soon.”
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