ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Wily Peralta earned a firm handshake from Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch upon the completion of his 13th consecutive scoreless inning over two starts. This time, he excelled against the American League-best Tampa Bay Rays.
“I’m in a really good rhythm right now,” Peralta said.
The 32-year-old right-hander — considered washed up by some teams when he went looking for work this past offseason — delivered six scoreless innings on Sept. 14 at Comerica Park. His strong effort set the tone in an extra innings win over the National League Central-best Milwaukee Brewers.
Peralta returned to the mound Sunday and blanked the Rays over seven innings at Tropicana Field, leading the way in the Tigers’ 2-0 win in the series finale to complete a four-game split. Detroit is 63-54 since May 8 and 32-27 since the All-Star break.
“We’ve been playing really well lately,” Peralta said. “I think that gives us a lot of confidence and shows everybody that we are stepping in the right direction.”
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Over the past nine games, Hinch’s squad has played seven games against the Rays and two against the Brewers, the teams with the third- and fourth-best records in baseball, respectively. The Tigers finished the span with a 6-3 record.
The Tigers (72-78) scored the only run they needed in the fourth inning, when Eric Haase slugged a 438-foot home run to center for a 1-0 lead. His 22nd home run came off Rays starter Shane McClanahan, who pitched five innings of one-run ball.
McClanahan struck out seven and allowed just two hits and two walks.
Listed on the roster as a catcher, Haase started in left field for Sunday’s finale.
That’s because Hinch wanted catcher Dustin Garneau in the lineup and behind the plate. The decision paid off, as Garneau paced Peralta through his dominant performance and chipped in an insurance run in the seventh inning.
“I know he’s got his plan,” Garneau said about working with Peralta. “When he goes about his plan, I know where he’s going to be shaking to and where he wants to go in the zone, so it keeps us on the same page a little faster. When he’s got all three of his pitches like he did today, it’s basically just a chess match for us.”
Garneau, a 34-year-old veteran, hammered a 405-foot solo home run to left field off reliever Nick Anderson, pushing the Tigers’ lead to 2-0. He has a career-high six home runs in 15 games. His previous best was three home runs across 35 games with the Los Angeles Angels (28 games) and Oakland Athletics (7 games) in 2019.
Following Peralta’s seven innings, the Tigers turned to lefty reliever Derek Holland. He gave up a single to Mike Zunino but quickly picked up two outs. As Nelson Cruz strolled into the batter’s box, Hinch called on 25-year-old rookie Jason Foley.
Foley tossed back-to-back wild pitches and walked Cruz on five pitches, putting runners on the corners. With Foley struggling to throw strikes in his first high-leverage opportunity, Garneau threw out pinch-runner Kevin Kiermaier trying to steal second base — ending the eighth inning.
“Kevin (Cash) is as aggressive of a manager as anybody in baseball,” Hinch said. “He’s very creative. He’s fearless. We know he’s going at some point, that’s why Kiermaier gets out there, especially with Foley, a young pitcher. Great throw by Garneau, great tag (by shortstop Niko Goodrum). We executed the play.
“It’s tough when it’s a one-run lead. The two-run lead really helped us. We could disregard the runner at third. The runner at first was the priority, and that’s why we threw the ball to second base.”
Righty Kyle Funkhouser pitched a scoreless ninth for his first career save.
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Peralta’s formula
In his 17th big-league game (16 starts) this season, Peralta shut down the Rays with his splitter and an abundance of ground-ball outs. He lowered his season-long ERA to 3.04 over 83 innings, with 32 walks and 52 strikeouts.
Tampa Bay had its best chance to score against him in the fifth inning, when runners stood on the corners with two outs: Yandy Diaz drew a four-pitch walk and Zunino singled. Needing one pitch against leadoff hitter Brandon Lowe, Peralta escaped the jam.
Lowe made weak contact on Peralta’s splitter at the bottom of the strike zone, and third baseman Jeimer Candelario tossed him out at first base.
“We needed him to go deep,” Hinch said. “He worked around a couple of his walks and a little bit of being erratic around the strike zone, but he continued to get outs. He’s done this when he’s been locked. To get through some innings quickly and then navigate some traffic, he was pretty good. His stuff was really good today.”
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Peralta induced inning-ending double plays in the first and second innings to work out of trouble. In the first, Cruz ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Peralta got ahead 0-2 to Ji-Man Choi to start the second but walked him on seven pitches. He then hit Randy Arozarena with a first-pitch sinker.
But after Joey Wendle flied out, Diaz grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
“That’s my main goal when I put men on,” Peralta said. “I don’t get too rushed to the plate. I just execute pitches. That’s my goal when I have that kind of defense behind me.”
Once Zunino singled in the fifth to put runners on the corners, Peralta retired seven of the final eight batters he faced to conclude his start. The only player to reach was Cruz in the sixth inning. Peralta should have struck him out, but catcher interference by Garneau allowed the slugger to reach safely.
Peralta has completed seven scoreless innings three times this season. Before 2021, however, he had not thrown seven scoreless in a start since Aug. 15, 2015, as a 26-year-old with the Brewers in his fourth MLB season.
“We didn’t even know how we were going to use him when we called him up, so he’s earned this opportunities and he should earn the praise,” Hinch said. “He’s done a really good job of stabilizing our rotation when we’ve needed it the most.”
The nine-year veteran threw 100 pitches (61 strikes): 46 sinkers, 26 splitters, 15 sliders and 13 four-seam fastballs. He worked 12 swings and misses — including four with his sinker and six with his splitter — and 15 called strikes.
His fastball averaged 94.5 mph.
“Getting him to 100 pitches was really key,” Hinch said. “I joked before the game with everybody that he was going to be out there until his arm fell off today because we were pretty thin (in our bullpen). Wily just kept putting up zeros.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.