Sports

/

ArcaMax

Freddy Peralta struggles, Liam Hicks slams in debuts as Rays win in 11

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on

Published in Baseball

DENVER — The Rays went 1-for-2 Tuesday in unveiling their top two trade acquisitions, then beat the Rockies 9-7 in 11 innings.

First, the bad.

Starter Freddy Peralta, acquired Sunday from the Mets based on his past success, had a rough outing, allowing seven runs and getting pulled in the fourth inning.

Then, the good.

Catcher Liam Hicks, acquired Monday from the Marlins primarily for his power bat, showed it off by hitting a grand slam — the first player do so in his Rays debut — and a double.

“He made a lot of new friends real quick,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Then, the better.

The Rays blew a 5-1 lead, rallied from a 7-5 deficit with one out in the ninth to even the score, then navigated Colorado threats in the ninth and 10th before winning in the 11th.

The Rays scored the decisive run without a hit. Ben Williamson, the runner placed at second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Walls and scored on a wild pitch by Nick Frasso, who was making his major-league debut.

Yandy Diaz followed with a double, went to third on a flyout and scored on a Junior Caminero single. All-Star Bryan Baker closed out the game for his majors-leading 32nd save and 21st straight.

Heading into their final 50 games of the season, the Rays saw their American League-leading record improve to 67-46 and their East Division lead over the Yankees stay at 3 ½ games.

Down 7-5 with one out in the ninth, the Rays rallied.

Walls drew a walk, then took second unchallenged. Diaz followed with a single that sent Walls to third, then stole second, his third steal of the season.

That mattered, because Jonathan Aranda singled them both in.

Peralta, 30, struggled for much of the season with the Mets, going 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA over 22 starts.

 

But the Rays said they saw much of the same indicators and data from his previous season, when he went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA, and were confident he would prosper in their environment under the tutelage of pitching coach Kyle Snyder.

Peralta still may, but Tuesday was not an encouraging start. He gave up nine hits (including two homers) and a walk to the 19 hitters he faced.

He got off to a bad start, allowing singles to his first two hitters, then escaping the first and rolling quickly through an 11-pitch second.

But he allowed hits to the first three Rockies in the third, followed by a one-out homer to Mickey Moniak. The fourth started with a four-pitch walk and then a two-run homer by Willi Castro.

“I thought that velocity and stuff was good. I think it just kind of snowballed a little bit,” Cash said. “I’m excited to see where it’s going to go. I know he’s going to get to work. I think the most impressive thing is the way that he just kept competing and battling through it, knowing that the outing didn’t go the way he wanted it to. But there was no frustration on his end whatsoever. He was out there to compete, and you really appreciate that.”

Relievers Cam Booser, Casey Legumina, Steven Matz, Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger and Bryan Baker came on to throw 7 ⅓ scoreless innings.

“They did a really nice job, man to man, piece by piece,” Cash said. “Kind of made some big pitches. We know this is a tough place to pitch in.”

The Rays didn’t hesitate to put the lefty-swinging Hicks right into the lineup, slotting him fourth to provide support to the “Big Three” at the top of the order and a bridge to the five below who play more of a small-ball style.

After grounding out in his first at-bat, Hicks came up next in the third inning. The Rays loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, scored one run when Aranda drew a one-out walk, then Caminero struck out.

Hicks drove a 2-1 Gabriel Hughes fastball 402 feet and over the rightfield fence for the first grand slam of his career and the Rays’ first of the season.

He later doubled with one out in the sixth inning and finished the night 2-for-5.

Cash was asked about Hicks’ first impression.

“I don’t know if you can make a better one,” he said.

_____


©2026 Tampa Bay Times. Visit at tampabay.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus