'Just a reliever'? Peralta's two huge outs help Rays even ALCS
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CLEVELAND -- As a gaggle of reporters approached Freddy Peralta inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Progressive Field late Saturday night, the 30-year-old posed a question before conducting an interview in front of his locker.
“I’m just a reliever,” Peralta said with a smile. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
Of course, Peralta wasn’t just a reliever. He was a team-first guy ready to do anything he could to help the Rays retie the American League Championship Series. Even if that meant the two-time All-Star starting pitcher needed to return to his MLB roots and deliver a throwback type of performance.
So when right-hander Nick Martinez’s terrific start ended with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Peralta came in from the bullpen. The righty recorded two key outs to preserve a one-run lead for Tampa Bay, which went on to secure a 7-3 win in Game 4 that knotted the ALCS at 2.
“He saved me,” Martinez said. “He saved our game today.”
Peralta started ALCS Game 2, when he tossed six scoreless innings in Tampa Bay's 3-1 victory. He’s likely going to start Game 6, which is now guaranteed to happen on Monday night at Tropicana Field.
Why was Peralta pitching in Saturday’s game, then? How did this plan come into place?
Here’s how it went down:
Peralta would have been scheduled to throw in the bullpen at some point on Saturday, as starters typically do around the midway point between starts. Instead of that, the Rays simply moved Peralta’s side session to a live setting.
Not only a live setting, but a high-intensity, high-stakes one.
“With a lot more intensity,” a smiling Peralta said. “I never throw my bullpens probably over 88 mph. So, that’s the only difference.”
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Tampa Bay’s coaching staff had prepared Peralta for such a situation on Friday, when he would have been available out of the bullpen had Game 4 not been postponed due to inclement weather. With the contest moved to Saturday, Peralta was in the same position.
Nobody on the Rays was shocked that Peralta -- who has been electric since he was traded from the Mets on Aug. 2 -- was willing to do this.
“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.”
It had been a while since Peralta had pitched in relief, and even longer since he had done so with any regularity. However, he has done it plenty of times before.
Peralta’s most recent appearance out of the bullpen had come with the Brewers in Game 3 of the 2024 National League Wild Card Series vs. the Mets. But he spent a large chunk of time early in his Milwaukee tenure as a reliever, especially across the 2019 and ‘20 seasons, when 45 of his 54 outings came in relief.
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So, Peralta leaned on his experience. He came in with a runner on first and one out in the bottom of the sixth and got Steven Kwan to fly out to center field. Then, after issuing a walk to José Ramírez, Peralta got Chase DeLauter to fly out to center to end the inning, maintaining Tampa Bay’s 2-1 advantage with a nine-pitch, four-strike showing during which his four-seam fastball averaged 97.5 mph and maxed out at 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.”
After Drew Rasmussen starts Sunday’s Game 5, Peralta is the most likely candidate to start Monday’s Game 6. He made it clear that he’ll be ready to make his next start -- though he wouldn’t divulge when that would be.
To Peralta, this was a simple thing he could do to help out his team -- play catch earlier in the day, make a relief appearance and still be ready to start when called upon next. And sure enough, his Rays got the win they so badly wanted.
“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.”