'When they smell blood, they take it and run': Rays create havoc to even up ALCS

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays landed their counterpunch Tuesday night in Game 2 and the ALCS is headed back to Cleveland as a best-of-five series.

Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win looked more like what we’d expected from this series, an airtight game with excellent pitching on each side that was decided by one crack under all the pressure that the ALCS brings.

That crack came in the fourth inning when the Rays finally broke through against the Guardians’ Parker Messick after causing some havoc on the bases with their trademark speed. Ben Williamson rolled a grounder to José Ramírez that looked like it would end the inning, but Ramírez got stuck trying to play the ball on an in-between hop and it skipped right through his legs to extend the inning and bring home the Rays’ first run. That kept the door open for Liam Hicks, who ripped a two-run single to pour salt on the wound.

“José Ramírez is as good as any third baseman there is in the game, and we were fortunate to maybe catch a break there,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “But once you catch the break, it's about what you do with it. Liam picked us up in a big way.”

It was “a very Rays inning,” as Cash called it, and he’s the expert. Consider it a hard lesson learned for the Guardians, who know that’s the exact type of inning they now need to avoid.

“They've done that all year,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “When they smell blood, they take it and run. Obviously, we would like to take it back, but you can't. I thought we played an excellent game. I thought we pitched excellently. I thought we played good defense at times. We had some sloppy plays in the field that we need to clean up, but I’m really proud of the way our guys battled.”

This style of game was only possible, though, because Freddy Peralta showed up with a flamethrower for Game 2.

Peralta was brilliant, striking out six Guardians over six shutout innings in the win. He’s already been reborn with the Rays organization since being traded over from the Mets, but Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, he unlocked a completely different level.

The 99.4-mph fastball Peralta threw to Jo Adell in the fifth inning was the hardest pitch of his career and he threw 29 pitches over 97 mph. All of this from the man who averaged 94.3 mph with his fastball in the regular season. The Rays needed something special from Peralta to avoid going back to Progressive Field in an 0-2 hole to the Guardians, but they got more than they could have dreamed of.

“The adrenaline plays a big role,” Peralta said. “I define myself as a competitor, and I like these kinds of games. I've always said in the past that I enjoyed this as a Dominican pitcher. I grew up watching the games in D.R., and that's the [type of] game that you see. I got used to that because I grew up watching it. I feel that I have that in me, in myself.”

Chants of “Freddy! Freddy! Freddy!” were already raining down as he released his 99th and final pitch of the night, ending the sixth with a strikeout and an eruption from the home crowd.

It was the type of pitching performance that makes other pitchers turn into fans, themselves.

“Oh man, where do I start?” said Rays closer Bryan Baker, who picked up the save. “Since he’s been here, I think his fastball and changeup combo is one of the best in the game. It seems like whatever tweaks they worked on or usage, it’s paying off big time.”

Peralta’s energy was infectious, and the 30-year-old was still vibrating after the game, speaking about his belief in this team. He’s been on the doorstep of the World Series before, reaching the NLCS with the Brewers last season, but he believes it’s real this time.

Now, the Guardians need to worry about Peralta looming over this series, ready to come back around again. Gavin Williams has that same gravitational pull on the other side, but now the Guardians’ hitters will be stuck searching for answers ahead of Peralta’s next start. They might lose some sleep that night, too.

“It's already an elite fastball, but he was placing it at the top for strikes. And then it felt like when he wanted to, he just put it a ball above,” explained Steven Kwan. “When he's doing that, it's pretty hard to lay off that, and the offspeeds were strikes as well. It felt like he had everything going today.”

You could feel the energy shift inside Tropicana Field as the Rays pulled ahead, shaking off the disappointment of their 7-3 loss in Game 1. The Rays are widely favored in this series and that shouldn’t surprise anyone given their AL-best 98 wins, but we saw their swagger shift right back into place after taking the lead. The very next inning, Junior Caminero snagged a scorching line drive off the bat of Kwan and hit him with the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag. The Rays aren’t just playing great baseball, they’re feeling themselves again.

The Guardians are still coming off four consecutive wins prior to Game 2, though, including their incredible comeback from being down 0-2 to the White Sox in the ALDS. A packed house at Progressive Field should only help them over the next three games, beginning with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

The Rays? They just need to keep rolling out this blueprint, putting a world of pressure on the Guardians and forcing them to crack first. Teams with home field advantage in a seven-game series that split the first two games have gone on to win the series 55 of 102 times (53.9%), including 24 of 40 times (60%) in the LCS.