Boston Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy knows his team has figured out the Tampa Bay Rays pretty well this season.
That said, the Red Sox (84-70) still can learn more about the Rays (93-60) when the teams meet Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“At this point with (the Rays), we’ve played them enough already,” Tracy said. “We have a pretty good understanding of them, (and) they have a pretty good understanding of us. But you could always pick up more stuff.”
In Friday’s series opener, the Red Sox scored four runs over the first three innings and won 4-2 to snap Tampa Bay’s six-game winning streak and improve to 6-5 this season vs. the Rays.
Boston currently holds the second wild-card position in the American League but is dealing with several injuries.
“We have guys beat up that aren’t here, and the hope is we get people healthy, and the roster could look even different a week from now than it does right now,” Tracy said.
Boston’s Willson Contreras is day-to-day after getting hit on the hand, while closer Aroldis Chapman (lat tightness) has been unavailable the past two contests.
Right-hander Tanner Houck (Tommy John surgery in 2025) and lefty Garrett Crochet (left shoulder inflammation) have advanced in their rehab assignments.
Boston left-hander Payton Tolle (9-6, 3.02 ERA) is expected to make his 26th start on Saturday and will try to record his sixth consecutive win.
Tolle is 1-0 with an 0.75 ERA over 12 innings in his last two starts, allowing one run on eight hits while striking out 19 with a walk. He is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts and one relief outing against Tampa Bay, which already has clinched a playoff berth.
Whatever Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder and the rest of the staff have done with trade-deadline acquisition Freddy Peralta certainly has been a success.
Acquired by the club from the New York Mets for three prospects on Aug. 2, Peralta (9-11, 4.67 ERA) — a right-hander who will start for the Rays on Saturday — arrived from the Big Apple as a lesser version of what he was during his two All-Star seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.
He was 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA with the Mets, but the work was immediately put in by the Rays to adjust Peralta to where he was when he was a 17-game winner with a sub-3.00 ERA last season.
“For some reason, when I got here, when I sat here with Kyle and (bullpen coach Jorge Moncada) and (manager Kevin Cash), they told me, like, ‘You’re gonna do what you want to do here, and we are going to help you to do it,'” Peralta said.
“And we know what you need to do to make those adjustments. We just put everything on the table. I just followed all the instructions, and it’s what I am right now.”
With the Rays, Peralta is 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA in eight starts, but his past four outings have been gems. He has pitched 23 innings and has allowed just two runs on 10 hits, with 17 strikeouts, four walks and an 0.78 ERA in that span.
“Fastball Freddy,” who is using his changeup much more with the Rays, is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three career starts against Boston.
Peralta allowed two runs on three hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 4-0 loss at Boston on July 11 while with the Mets.
–Field Level Media
