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.
"I saw it up and luckily put the barrel on it and luckily it dropped," said Hicks. "Credit to the guys ahead of me for getting on."
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 of himself.
“Credit to Freddy," said Hicks. "He’s fastball Freddy for a reason, and it was really working today. He’s one of the hardest workers you’ll come across in the game, so really happy for him."
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.
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.
"I was looking for that strikeout," said Peralta. "I tried my best on the pitch before with the fastball, but he was able to make contact. Thank God I was able to finish it on the next pitch.”
You could feel the energy shift inside Tropicana Field as the Rays pulled ahead, too, 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 Steven 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, too, 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.