Freddy Peralta gave the Rays exactly the kind of October lift they were banking on when they brought him in at the trade deadline, and Kevin Cash didn’t waste any time making that point after Game 2 of the ALCS.
Peralta was sharp from the start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, spinning six shutout innings in Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win to level the series. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out six, a line that mattered even more in a postseason setting where every frame can tilt the night.
Cash sounded more than satisfied when he addressed Peralta afterward, pointing to the right-hander’s recent run of form and the life on his fastball.
“He's been pretty confident, and a lot of reason why, given the month that he put together in September and the previous start against the Yankees. I think the velocity really stood out today.
I don't know for a fact, but it felt like that might have been his highest velocity we've seen,” Cash said in his postgame presser, via Ryan Bass of MLB TV. “When you have that arsenal, there's no reason not to be confident.”
That confidence showed up on the radar gun, too. Peralta touched 99 mph with his four-seam fastball, a notable jump for a pitcher who averaged around 94.4 mph on the pitch during the regular season.
He also did what good postseason starters have to do: escape trouble without letting it snowball. The Guardians put two runners on with two outs in both the second and fifth innings, and Peralta found a way through each time to end the threat.
For the Rays, it was the kind of outing that can settle a series fast. For Peralta, it was a reminder of why Tampa Bay saw more than just depth when it made the move.
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Burke has been a real gain for Cincinnati, working his way into a heavy workload and turning in a 2.30 ERA while leading the National League in appearances. The Rays, meanwhile, never got a chance to see what Lux might have added because of a shoulder injury and a string of setbacks, and with his contract now headed toward free agency, the long-term value of Tampa Bays side of the deal is still very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]