Freddy Peralta has not recorded a win since Tampa Bay acquired him from the New York Mets for a trio of prospects earlier this month.
But there are some encouraging signs that Peralta can carry into Wednesday afternoon’s start in Detroit, when the Rays and Tigers play the rubber match of their three-game series.
Peralta (5-11, 5.33 ERA) lasted seven innings against Baltimore on Friday, his longest outing since a seven-inning start against Miami on May 23 while pitching for New York. Peralta was pulled after 4 2/3 innings in a start against the Orioles on Aug. 16.
During the rematch, Peralta gave up five runs and seven hits. However, he walked one and struck out six. The big blow against him was a two-run homer by Pete Alonso.
“One of the best hitters in the game,” Peralta said. “We were competing on that pitch, but he was able to (do) damage on that one.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash was ejected earlier in the inning for arguing that the previous hitter Jackson Holliday should have been called out on a checked swing. Holliday hit a sacrifice fly prior to Alonso’s blast.
Cash liked what he saw from Peralta from the manager’s office.
“Watching the last two innings on TV, I thought he was a little bit better,” Cash said. “His last two innings of work got the fastball, got the changeup going. I know they came out of the gates pretty aggressive. They had just seen him, and they probably understood the approach that he was going to take.”
Peralta has a 7.17 ERA in four starts since the trade. But he is 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA in four career starts against the Tigers.
He’ll be opposed by fellow rignt-hander Troy Melton (7-2, 1.60), who lost his most recent start on Friday. Melton gave up three runs — two earned — in 5 2/3 innings of a 5-2 loss at Kansas City.
Melton gave up homers to Kyle Isbel and Vinnie Pasquantino. In his four prior starts, Melton had allowed just one earned run in 24 1/3 innings.
“I don’t think I threw the ball very well,” Melton said. “I didn’t execute in two-strike counts. That’s kind of been the story for a little bit. I don’t think it was terrible, by any means. I gave us a general chance to win the game. But there was a lot of hard contact and I wasn’t able to finish with two strikes and I walked three guys.”
Melton struck out just three batters while throwing 94 pitches against the Royals.
“He had to battle quite a bit,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “They kept chipping away and putting balls in play and had a couple of big swings. Credit to them for having a good approach and being able to keep the line moving and applying pressure on him.”
Melton had the longest outing of his young career against the Rays on June 3. He held them to two runs and four hits over eight innings.
Detroit snapped a six-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 4-1 victory. Rookie outfielder Max Clark led the offense with a two-run homer, the second of his young career.
–Field Level Media
