ST. PETERSBURG -- A dominant pitcher can throw whatever he wants -- even if the opposition knows what’s coming -- and still get outs.
The Guardians knew what was coming from Rays starter Freddy Peralta in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Heck, the game plan was basically shouted over the Tropicana Field loud speaker prior to Tuesday night’s first pitch. Manager Kevin Cash lamented afterward that perhaps his team had tipped its hand to the opposition.
“The announcers before the game and even our PA were calling him ‘Fastball Freddy,’” Cash said. “That told everybody what was coming.”
It didn’t matter. Peralta dominated over six scoreless innings -- the longest postseason outing of his career -- as the Rays triumphed, 3-1, to even the series up at 1-1.
The truth is “Fastball Freddy” is not a new development. That has been Peralta’s nickname for almost the entirety of his nine-year MLB career, dating back to his early days with the Brewers. But that moniker was never more appropriate than on Tuesday.
Of Peralta’s 99 pitches -- his most as a member of the Rays -- 71 were four-seam fastballs. That included a 99.4 mph four-seamer to right fielder Jo Adell that was his fastest pitch in the big leagues.
“I think he was probably pretty amped up in this scenario,” Rays closer Bryan Baker said of Peralta. "That was really fun to watch.”
Peralta admitted that the extra adrenaline that comes with playoff baseball played a role in his velocity uptick. It was present during Tampa Bay’s victory over the Yankees in AL Division Series Game 2. That night, Peralta hit 97 mph on the radar gun a career-best 20 times.
He was even more amped up in his first ALCS performance as he reached 97 mph 29 times. That included three four-seamers at 99.0 mph or faster, something he had done only five times previously in his career entering Tuesday. And the 71.7% usage rate on his four-seamer? That’s Peralta’s highest rate on that pitch in any start since June 11, 2019.
“It's no secret that I trust in my fastball a lot, and it's my best pitch,” Peralta said. “I think [catcher Liam Hicks] was the one -- he was amazing behind the plate, calling the fastball, and I was trusting the pitch and letting it go there. And it worked pretty well.”
Hicks said the increased reliance on the fastball had a lot to do with the swings he was seeing by the Guardians, who went 3-for-17 against Peralta’s premier pitch. Only three of their 14 batted balls against his four-seamer were classified as hard hit.
“I think he was just unbelievable tonight,” Hicks said. “... He’s ‘Fastball Freddy’ for a reason, and it was really working today.”
It’s one thing to throw harder than you have before. It’s another thing to take that extra velo and command it how you want. Peralta was able to do that as well against Cleveland, as he peppered the top of the strike zone with heaters that the Guardians just could not catch up to. In total, 51 of Peralta’s 71 four-seamers landed in the top third of the strike zone or higher.
“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,” Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan said. “When he's doing that, it's pretty hard to lay off that.”
Peralta allowed four hits -- all singles -- and struck out six. His start concluded with a K of center fielder Petey Halpin on a changeup in the zone. It was the end of a nine-pitch at-bat, and Peralta let out a scream as he hopped off the mound. Meanwhile, the home crowd serenaded the team’s key Trade Deadline acquisition with chants of “Freddy! Freddy!”
During the middle of the battle with Halpin, Peralta stepped off the mound and allowed himself to take it all in: “I just enjoyed the moment because it was a really good at-bat.”
It’s a moment Peralta couldn’t have predicted would be in his future during his early season struggles with the Mets. He joined Tampa Bay with a 4.99 ERA over 113 2/3 innings, and he looked nothing like the two-time National League All-Star hurler that both he and the Rays knew he could be again.
With his new club, Peralta’s season has taken a 180-degree turn. He was the AL Pitcher of the Month for September, and with Tuesday’s superb outing, Peralta’s past eight starts (dating back to the regular season) have included no more than five hits allowed, no more than one run allowed and eight Rays victories.
According to OptaStats, that's the longest such streak by any traditional starter in MLB's Modern Era (since 1900, regular season and postseason).
“When I got traded here, I just felt different,” Peralta said. “For some reason I got here, and I felt like myself again.”