Rays 3, Guardians 1: Peralta, a Ball Through the Legs, Hicks

Six innings, 99 pitches, and a ball that would not hop

October 13, 2026 - St. Petersburg - Freddy Peralta threw his 99th pitch of the night with the Trop chanting his name. Petey Halpin swung through a 3-2 changeup. Peralta pumped a fist and left the mound still scoreless. That was the start. The game had already been decided an inning earlier, when a grounder skipped under José Ramírez and Liam Hicks lined two runs into center.

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 in American League Championship Series Game 2 and tied the series 1-1.

Dome. 72 degrees. First pitch 8:08 p.m. Attendance 32,125. The game lasted 2 hours, 42 minutes. Tampa Bay finished with seven hits and no extra-base hits after Junior Caminero's first-inning double. Cleveland finished with six hits, one error, and one run that arrived too late.

Monday's 7-3 was Tampa Bay's first loss in two weeks. Tuesday looked like the club that swept the Yankees.

Messick kept the door shut. The fourth opened it anyway.

Parker Messick grew up going to Rays games in this building. For three innings he looked like he belonged in it.

Caminero doubled to left in the first, 91.3 mph, and died there. Jonny DeLuca singled in the second. Chandler Simpson bounced into a 4-6-3. Ben Williamson walked and Messick picked him off first. Hicks and Taylor Walls singled in the third. Yandy Díaz bounced into the same 4-6-3. Two hits, two double plays, a pickoff. Still 0-0.

The fourth was the inning Kevin Cash called "a very Rays inning" in the MLB recap.

Caminero walked. Victor Mesa Jr. grounded into what first looked like a double play. Tampa Bay challenged both ends. The force at second stood. The out at first, called by Mark Ripperger, did not. Mesa was safe. DeLuca struck out. Simpson then beat a high chopper to short. Mesa went to third standing up because Ramírez did not cover the bag.

Williamson's grounder should have been the third out. It hit the edge where turf meets dirt, 84.9 mph, and went through Ramírez's legs. Mesa scored. Simpson to third. Williamson to second. 1-0.

Hicks did not wait. He lined the next pitch to center, 96.9 mph, 266 feet. Simpson scored. Williamson scored. 3-0. Walls struck out. Three unearned runs. Messick had not given up an earned run, and he was already behind.

"José Ramírez is as good as any third baseman there is in the game, and we were fortunate to maybe catch a break there," Cash said in the MLB recap. "But once you catch the break, it's about what you do with it. Liam picked us up in a big way."

Ramírez told the Associated Press recap, through a translator, that the surface is a little faster and that he felt bad. He had played back instead of charging. Cleveland's four-game postseason winning streak ended on that hop.

Peralta threw the hardest pitch of his life, then left with a 3-0

Cleveland put traffic on Peralta and did not cash it.

Steven Kwan singled to open the game and stayed there. Travis Bazzana singled in the second. Austin Hedges was hit by a pitch after Tampa Bay challenged and lost. Brayan Rocchio struck out. Chase DeLauter walked in the third. Jo Adell flew out.

The fifth was the closest Cleveland came before the seventh. Caminero leaped and snagged Kwan's liner, then wagged a finger at the batter. The MLB recap said Caminero was in the lineup after Monday's collision with DeLuca. Ramírez singled. Ramírez stole second. DeLauter walked. Adell lined to DeLuca. Still 0-3.

Peralta's fifth-inning fastball to Adell, the Associated Press recap said, was 99.4 mph, the hardest pitch of his big-league career. He used the four-seamer on 71 of 99 pitches. His average fastball sat 96.9, 2.6 mph above his season mark. He threw 29 pitches at 97 or harder, the MLB recap said, after averaging 94.3 in the regular season.

"It's no secret that I trust in my fastball a lot and it's my best pitch," Peralta said in the Associated Press recap. He also told MLB.com the adrenaline plays a big role, that he defines himself as a competitor, and that these are the games he grew up watching in the Dominican Republic.

Six innings. Four hits. Zero earned. Two walks. Six strikeouts. 99 pitches, 68 strikes. Win No. 1 in a Rays uniform in October. ERA 0.84. Mets owner Steve Cohen was in the building, the Associated Press recap said. Peralta, acquired from New York at the deadline, went 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 10 regular-season starts after a 4.99 ERA with the Mets.

"It's already an elite fastball, but he was placing it at the top for strikes," Kwan said in the MLB recap. "And then it felt like when he wanted to, he just put it a ball above."

Messick's card: five innings, six hits, three runs, zero earned, two walks, three strikeouts, 82 pitches, 47 strikes, one hit batter, one pickoff, two double plays behind him. The loss put him at 0-2. He did not deserve the 3 next to his name. The box still has it.

One double to the corner, then nothing else

Kevin Kelly started the seventh. Patrick Bailey pinch-hit for Hedges, challenged a strike call, and walked. Rocchio flew to DeLuca. Kwan singled. Ramírez flew to DeLuca with two on. That was as far as Kelly went.

Ian Seymour inherited second and third with two outs. DeLauter lined a double to the right-field corner, 104.5 mph. Bailey scored. Kwan to third. 3-1. Adell struck out swinging at a changeup. The Associated Press recap put the runners at second and third when the inning ended. Seymour then threw a 1-2-3 eighth, striking out Angel Martínez. Bryan Baker needed eight pitches in the ninth: Bailey swinging, Rocchio to Mesa, Kwan to Walls. Save number 4 this postseason.

Shawn Armstrong and Tim Herrin covered the sixth and seventh after Messick. Slade Cecconi struck out Caminero and Mesa in a clean eighth. Cleveland's bullpen did not allow a run. Cleveland's bats allowed one.

Hicks went 2-for-3 with two RBI from the eight hole. He had sat Monday against the lefty Foster Griffin. "This lineup is so good, you can hit anywhere in the lineup, and you're not getting offended," Hicks said in the Associated Press recap.

DeLauter finished 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI, and two walks. That was Cleveland's entire scoring file. Adell went 0-for-4. Nathaniel Lowe went 0-for-4. The Guardians were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine on, per the ESPN box.

Stephen Vogt told MLB.com the Rays have done that all year: when they smell blood, they take it and run. He also said he thought Cleveland pitched well and that the sloppy plays need to get cleaned up.

Thursday in Cleveland, series 1-1

Game 3 is Thursday night at Progressive Field. Griffin Jax is lined up for Tampa Bay. Gavin Williams is lined up for Cleveland. The Associated Press recap put Jax at one run in two innings of relief against the Yankees, and Williams at 24 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings across three ALDS appearances. Games 4 and 5, if needed, stay in Cleveland. Then it returns to the Trop.

The MLB recap noted clubs with home-field advantage that split the first two games of a seven-game series have gone 55-47 historically, including 24-16 in the LCS. That is a note. It is not Thursday's first pitch.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Tampa Bay at 8 team fantasy points on a 3-1. Peralta sat first among pitchers at 22. Seymour had 9.33. Baker had 9. Messick still sat at 8 in a loss, because five innings and zero earned runs score even when three unearned runs sit on the board. DeLauter and Hicks led hitters at 4 each. Cleveland sat at -2. Fantasy points measure the night. Share price is what the market pays. They move together, but they are not the same number. See dynamic pricing.

Track the Rays and Guardians on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; ESPN recap; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*