ST. PETERSBURG -- In Game 2 of the American League Division Series, Freddy Peralta felt the energy and excitement inside Tropicana Field -- and it showed. The 30-year-old right-hander’s stuff looked electric as he tossed 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball and helped guide the Rays to a 5-2 win over the Yankees.
In Game 2 of the AL Championship Series, Peralta will again aim to feed off the atmosphere -- and also attempt to keep his team from facing an 0-2 hole before flying to Cleveland.
After taking a 7-3 loss in Monday’s Game 1, Tampa Bay will send Peralta to the mound Tuesday night looking to even the series vs. the Guardians, as it is deploying the same duo for the first two games of the ALCS as it did in its ALDS sweep of New York. Drew Rasmussen (who started ALDS Game 1) took the mound for the opener and allowed two runs in six-plus innings.
Though the Rays are now facing a deficit for the first time this postseason, Peralta isn’t changing his mindset from his previous start.
“The same mentality: come in, take the opportunity to just compete and try to give the best of myself,” Peralta said, “and get the win.”
Peralta always leans heavily on his fastball (which he threw 53% of the time during the regular season), but he did so even more in his first postseason start for the Rays. Of his 66 pitches thrown, 43 (65%) were heaters, and they averaged 96.8 mph, up from his season mark of 94.3.
The opportunity to pitch in the playoffs again was something that appealed to Peralta after getting traded from the Mets to the Rays on Aug. 2. The Moca, Dominican Republic, native made nine postseason appearances for the Brewers from 2018-25, then knew he’d likely get opportunities to pitch for the AL East champions this October.
“Very special, because since I got here, I felt something I was looking for, which is the energy, the way that the boys play the game,” Peralta said during the ALDS. “The defense, they are amazing, the way they come into the field. The way they take their at-bats, too, it’s amazing. We just need to keep it that way.”
Peralta’s brief time in New York didn’t go as well as he had hoped. The righty had a 4.99 ERA through 22 starts, but Tampa Bay knew the talent was still there.
Since the trade, the Rays have won nine of the 11 games started by Peralta, who has allowed two or fewer earned runs in eight of those outings. He had a tremendous September, recording a 0.96 ERA in 28 innings over five starts last month.
“I think what clicked is him coming over here and just flushing whatever had gone on and approaching it like a fresh start, a new start, a new season for him,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The fastball/changeup combination, the early-strike offspeed pitches he's able to throw and control in the count, and he has found ways to just put up a bunch of zeros and get deep in games.”
Peralta hasn’t faced the Guardians this season. But he’s seen them plenty before, pitching to a 4.00 ERA in four appearances (three starts) against Cleveland from 2020-25. He also watched as the Guards’ bats took over Game 1, plating all seven of their runs during the final four innings.
“I know that they take very good at-bats. They swing at the ball very well,” Peralta said. “They're looking all the time for damage. But they are very disciplined at the plate.”
Cash said the Rays won’t be announcing the rest of their ALCS starters until the days before each game. Left-hander Ian Seymour pitched out of the bullpen in Game 1 (tossing two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief), and righties Nick Martinez and Griffin Jax were also available, if needed.
Tampa Bay is likely to start Martinez (the ALDS Game 3 starter) for Game 3 in Cleveland, with Jax and Seymour candidates to start later in the ALCS. But the Rays will reassess the state of their pitching staff after seeing how deep Peralta goes in Game 2.