The Rays went into the trade deadline looking for help in the rotation, and they paid a steep price to get Freddy Peralta from the New York Mets. Tampa Bay sent outfielder Aidan Smith, infielder Emilien Pitre and right-handed pitcher Gary Gill Hill the other way, a move that drew plenty of skepticism at the time.
That reaction made sense. Peralta had posted a 4.99 ERA and -0.5 bWAR with the Mets, and his first stretch in Tampa Bay did nothing to quiet the doubts. Across his first four starts with the Rays, he was sitting on a 7.17 ERA in 21.1 innings and had already surrendered five home runs.
But against the Detroit Tigers, Peralta looked like the pitcher Tampa Bay thought it was getting.
Needing a road win at Comerica Park to take the series, the veteran right-hander delivered six shutout innings in a 3-0 Rays victory. He allowed only two hits, didn’t issue a walk and struck out four. It was the kind of outing that can reset a season, especially for a pitcher who had been drifting toward the edge of the team’s playoff rotation.
Peralta did it efficiently, too. He needed just 81 pitches to get through six innings, and 50 of those were strikes. Kevin Kelly handled two innings out of the bullpen, and Tyler Wells finished the job in the ninth to lock down the shutout.
Some fans probably would have liked to see Peralta go deeper, especially after his Aug. 16 start against the Baltimore Orioles fell apart and he was pulled after only 4.2 innings. Still, there’s something to be said for walking off the mound after a start like this one, given how rough the early returns had been.
There were reasons to soften the judgment on his first few outings. His first two starts after the trade deadline came at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies and at Sutter Health Park against the Athletics, both places that can punish pitchers. He’s also been working through adjustments with the coaching staff.
In Detroit, all of that finally came together. Six shutout innings every time out isn’t realistic, but Peralta has the kind of stuff that changes the shape of a rotation. He didn’t lead the National League with 17 wins and post a 5.5 bWAR last year by accident.
If this is the start of a real turnaround, the Rays suddenly have a rotation that looks a lot more dangerous, with Peralta slotting behind Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez and Shane McClanahan.
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