ST. PETERSBURG -- Sitting in the Rays’ dugout on Monday afternoon, Freddy Peralta made it clear he feels different than he did a month ago. It might have taken a midseason trade and a fresh start with Tampa Bay, but he believes he is past the issues that plagued him during his disappointing stint with the Mets.
Peralta backed up his words by shutting down his former team Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
Peralta held the Mets to just one run and struck out seven without a walk over six impressive innings in the Rays’ 6-2 win. After allowing a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor and two more hits in the first inning, Peralta retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced, including each of the final 13.
It was another huge step in the right direction for Peralta, who has won back-to-back starts for Tampa Bay. The veteran right-hander allowed only two hits over six scoreless innings in Detroit last Wednesday, and he was similarly effective and efficient against the Mets to even the series.
In keeping with the adjustments he has made since joining the Rays, Peralta leaned heavily on his signature fastball and changeup during his efficient 74-pitch outing. Half his pitches were four-seamers and nearly a third were changeups, and he sprinkled in a few curveballs and sweepers to keep the Mets off-balance while racking up 14 whiffs on 45 swings.
The Peralta who scaled the mound against the Mets didn’t look much like the version who went 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA for New York to begin this season. Under pitching coach Kyle Snyder and bullpen coach Jorge Moncada, he has worked to regain the extension in his delivery that made him so productive as a member of the Brewers’ rotation.
Of course, Peralta’s reunion with the Mets started about as poorly as possible. He left a 3-2 curveball up in the zone to Lindor, who launched it into the right-field seats for a leadoff homer. Then came consecutive one-out singles by Bo Bichette and Carson Benge, extending what turned out to be a 25-pitch opening frame.
But Peralta shut it down after that. His pitch count by inning the rest of the way: 13, eight, 13, seven, eight. And the Rays’ lineup picked him up with a couple of big swings.
Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero immediately tied the game in the first inning, as Díaz doubled off lefty Sean Manaea and scored on a single by Caminero. The Rays took the lead in the third, when Victor Mesa Jr. reached on a single before dashing home on a base hit by Ryan Vilade.
Their biggest outburst came in the sixth, when they hit for the cycle as a team. Chandler Simpson hit a leadoff single and scored on a double by Nick Fortes, who came home on Taylor Walls’ sacrifice fly. Díaz then launched his 21st homer of the season out to left-center before Vilade raced around the bases for a two-out triple.