ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Behind six scoreless innings from right-hander Freddy Peralta, the Tampa Bay Rays bounced back Tuesday night to defeat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 at Tropicana Field, evening the American League Championship Series at one game apiece.
Peralta surrendered four hits, issued two walks and struck out six across 99 pitches, heavily relying on his four-seam fastball, Yahoo Sports and the New York Post reported. Seventy-one of his offerings were heaters, translating to a 71.7 percent fastball rate that marked his heaviest usage of the pitch since June 2019.
His fastball averaged 96.9 mph on the night, an increase of 2.6 mph over his regular-season mark, according to the New York Post. Peralta reached back for 99.4 mph to challenge Jo Adell with two runners aboard in the fifth inning, clocking the fastest velocity of his major league career before getting a flyout to escape the frame.
“It’s no secret that I trust in my fastball a lot and it’s my best pitch,” Peralta said, as reported by the New York Post. Roundtable Sports noted that Peralta became only the second starting pitcher in franchise history to deliver a scoreless outing of at least six innings this late in the postseason, alongside Scott Kazmir in 2008.
Decisive Fourth Inning
All of Tampa Bay’s offense arrived in the bottom of the fourth inning against Cleveland rookie left-hander Parker Messick, who surrendered three unearned runs. Junior Caminero opened the frame with a walk, and Victor Mesa Jr. beat out a potential double play after an initial out call at first base was overturned on video review. Chandler Simpson followed with an infield single to put runners at first and third.
Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez then misplayed a grounder from Ben Williamson. The ball took an awkward bounce where the dirt met the synthetic turf, bounding past Ramírez to score Mesa and advance the runners. Ramírez expressed regret about the play through a translator, saying, “It’s a little bit faster here this type of surface. It’s frustrating. I feel bad,” ABC News reported.
Catcher Liam Hicks capitalized on the next pitch, pulling a slider into right-center field for a two-run single before a crowd of 32,125 fans to stretch Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-0.
Bullpen Closes Out Cleveland
Rays manager Kevin Cash praised his starter’s velocity after the game, telling reporters, “I think the velocity really stood out,” according to the New York Post.
The Guardians halved the deficit in the seventh inning when Chase DeLauter struck an RBI double into the right-field corner off reliever Ian Seymour. Seymour recovered by striking out Adell to leave two runners stranded, then worked a perfect eighth inning. Closer Bryan Baker finished off the victory with a 1-2-3 ninth to collect his fourth save of the playoffs.
The win ended Cleveland’s four-game postseason winning streak and turned the best-of-seven ALCS into a best-of-five contest. The series now moves to Progressive Field in Cleveland for Game 3 on Thursday night, where Rays right-hander Griffin Jax is scheduled to face Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams.
