ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Freddy Peralta can’t pinpoint the root of his failed Mets tenure, but he’s willing to discount the idea the pressure of pitching in New York buried him.
“I don’t see pressure,” the Rays right-hander said Monday at Tropicana Field. “It’s a way bigger market and there’s a lot more fans, people there, and everybody is paid to win for every day. I enjoyed those kinds of moments when I was in New York, but I don’t see it as pressure.”
After an initial ugly start for his new team, Peralta — whom the Mets traded Aug. 3 for prospects Aidan Smith, Gary Gill Hill and Émilien Pitre — has brought value to the Rays. Over his last four starts, he’s pitched to a 3.80 ERA, which included six scoreless innings against the Tigers in his last outing.
He is Tuesday’s scheduled starter for the Rays in yet another appearance against a team that traded him during the last year; Peralta, with the Mets, faced the Brewers on July 20 and allowed seven earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings.
In his 22 starts for the Mets, he pitched to a 4.99 ERA and too often failed to complete even five innings.
“It was the first time I struggled like that, but I never gave up,” Peralta said. “I was always trying to find a way to feel better, to pitch better and I knew what I can do and I was feeling good physically too and healthy, but I couldn’t make the adjustment. But the good thing is now that I feel different, I am ready to keep going to the World Series, hopefully.”
Peralta said he’s again getting extension during his delivery and that has helped add life to his fastball.
“[The Mets staff] was really good and they tried to help me all the time,” Peralta said. “But for some reason when I got here, for some reason it was probably the time that everything just changed like that.”
The Rays began the day with a 4 ½-game lead in the AL East, allowing Peralta to at least dream of such October moments. It’s a chance he wasn’t going to receive with the Mets, whose many shortcomings beyond Peralta’s struggles buried the team before the All-Star break.
Peralta arrived to the Mets last winter in a deal that sent prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to the Brewers. The Mets viewed the deal as one that had brought an ace — albeit one entering his last season before free agency — to the rotation.
What was Peralta’s reaction when he was told he had been traded to the Rays?
“I felt good because I was going to a team that was playing really well, in first place, competing all the time,” Peralta said. “I love the stadium here, too. When the season started, I wasn’t expecting to be traded because I was going to a whole new team. I thought I would be there the whole year, at least. But in time it wasn’t a secret I was going to be traded, and I was just hoping to go to a team like this one.”
Peralta, after a light throwing session Monday, ventured to the visitors dugout, where he caught up with several former teammates and Mets staff members. Peralta cited his friendship with Juan Soto as one of his strongest during his Mets tenure.
“Most of the guys, we were really close,” he said. “The American guys, too, we were very close and we created a good relationship.”
