ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Where would the Tigers be without Wily Peralta?
The correct answer is, you don’t want to know.
The veteran right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings Sunday and the Tigers left Tropicana Field with a 2-0 win over the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
Solo home runs by Eric Haase (22) and Dustin Garneau (6) provided all the offensive support he needed and the Tigers split the four-game series, after taking two of three from the Rays in Comerica last weekend.
Things got interesting in the eighth inning after Peralta departed. Manager AJ Hinch brought in lefty Derek Holland. The Rays had right-handed hitter Mike Zunino leading off with lefties Brandon Lowe and Austin Meadows due after.
Zunino singled and Rays manager Kevin Cash countered with two right-handed pinch-hitters. Holland didn't blink. He struck out Jordan Luplow and got Manuel Margot to foul out.
Hinch then brought right-hander Jason Foley in to face Nelson Cruz — giving the rookie his first taste of big-league leverage situation. Foley's first two pitches went to the backstop and then he walked Cruz.
But Garneau bailed him out. The Rays used speedy Kevin Kiermaier to run for Cruz and Garneau threw him out trying to steal second.
With Gregory Soto and Jose Cisnero both on the injured list, and with Michael Fulmer unavailable after pitching the last two days, it fell on Kyle Funkhouser to close it out.
Which he did, getting the dangerous Yandy Diaz to line out to the wall in right field to end it. It was his first major-league save.
But Peralta earns the game belt for this one.
The way Rays lefty Shane McClanahan was throwing the fire out of the ball, it was going to be a thin margin of error for the Tigers and Peralta. Which it was, but it didn’t matter.
McClanahan, who was making his first start since coming of the injured list (low back tightness), rang 100 mph to the second batter of the game. He also mixed in a 93-mph slider, a curveball and a change-up.
Nasty piece of work. He struck out seven and the only marks against him were an infield single by Harold Castro and a 438-foot solo homer run by Haase in the fourth inning.
Fortunately for the visitors, though, the Rays are being cautious with their talented rookie and pulled him after five innings. Though facing the arms the Rays bring out of their bullpen is hardly a joyous experience.
Garneau's second homer of the series and sixth in 14 games with the Tigers, came off reliever Nick Anderson in the seventh.
But Peralta, as he has really all season, more than held up his end of the bargain. After shutting out the Brewers on two hits over six innings in his last start, he blanked the Rays on three singles through seven innings Sunday.
He threw 100 pitches, 46 sinkers and 26 split-change-ups. He got 12 swings and misses, six with the splitter. The average exit velocity on 18 balls put in play against him was a soft 79.9 mph.
“He’s been very important to us,” Hinch said before the game. “Not just logging the innings, but the quality that’s come with it. The guy has come on a mission. He wanted to start. He made that known when he signed. He was emphatic about wanting an opportunity to start.”
Peralta is 32 years old. He was out of baseball last year. He’d been a reliever, even a stint as the Royals closer, since 2018.
“Once you shift to the bullpen, you forget the guy used to start,” Hinch said.
Tigers Latin American scout Oliver Arias didn’t forget. He contacted assistant general manager David Chadd and told him that Peralta was throwing in the mid-90s in the Dominican Winter League and had developed a splitter-change-up hybrid.
The Tigers signed him to a minor league contract and then had to wait until after spring training had ended before he could clear customs and COVID protocols before he could get to Lakeland. In the meantime, one veteran starter after another was lost to injury – Julio Teheran, Spencer Turnbull, Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd.
Peralta stepped into that void and essentially saved the Tigers rotation. Sunday was his 16th start. He came in with a 2.91 ERA in his last seven starts.
“No one really gave him a chance or a look based on he didn’t pitch last year,” Hinch said. “Who would’ve thought at the end of the year we’d be talking about him as somebody who stabilized things at a time when we really needed it?”
