ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays evened the American League Championship Series at one game apiece Tuesday night, beating the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 behind six scoreless innings from Freddy Peralta.
Peralta struck out six, allowed four hits and threw 99 pitches, his most as a member of the Rays. Seventy-one of those pitches were four-seam fastballs, including a 99.4-mph fastball to Jo Adell that was the hardest of his career. He threw 29 pitches at 97-plus mph after his four-seam sat at 94.3 mph during the regular season.
Tampa Bay scored all three runs in the fourth after a José Ramírez error at third base kept the inning alive. Liam Hicks ripped a two-run single that gave the Rays the lead for good in a game decided by one crack under playoff pressure.
It was the first time in eight postseason starts that he pitched six innings. Closer Bryan Baker finished the save as the Rays shook off a 7-3 loss in Game 1 and sent the series back to Cleveland tied.
Game 3 is Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in Cleveland on TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max. The Guardians will try to reclaim home-field edge after an airtight pitching duel that looked more like the series many expected.
