Rays Even ALCS on Peralta Gem and Fourth-Inning Surge

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay evened the ALCS at 1-1 Tuesday night, topping Cleveland 3-1 behind six scoreless innings from Freddy Peralta.

Peralta fanned six, allowed four hits and threw 99 pitches — a career high as a Ray. Seventy-one were four-seamers, including a 99.4-mph heater to Jo Adell, the hardest of his career. He threw 29 pitches at 97-plus after sitting 94.3 mph on the four-seam in the regular season.

All three Tampa Bay runs came in the fourth after a José Ramírez error at third kept the inning alive. Liam Hicks’ two-run single put the Rays ahead for good.

Across eight prior playoff starts he had never worked six innings. Bryan Baker closed it out as the Rays bounced back from a 7-3 Game 1 loss and sent the series to Cleveland tied.

Game 3 is Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in Cleveland on TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max. Cleveland will try to reclaim home-field edge after a tight pitching duel.