Dominican Freddy Peralta leads Tampa Bay to victory and ties the Championship Series against Cleveland

The Dominican pitcher pitched six scoreless innings in the Rays' 3-1 victory over the Guardians. The series now moves to Cleveland with the series tied.

Dominican pitcher Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings in the Tampa Bay Rays' 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to tie the American League Championship Series.

Tampa Bay thus rebounded from a 7-3 loss in Game 1 and tied the series before the action moves to Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, where Game 3 will be played.

Peralta allowed four hits during his outing, marking his best performance of the 2026 postseason. The 30-year-old Dominican has pitched 10.2 innings, recorded nine strikeouts, and posted a 0.84 ERA in these playoffs.

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The game remained scoreless through the first three innings, until the Rays took the lead thanks to singles by Ben Williamson and Canadian Liam Hicks, which drove in three runs and sparked celebrations among the 32,125 fans in the stadium.

Hicks, 27, arrived in Tampa Bay midseason from the Miami Marlins and snapped a slump by recording his first hit since October 3, at the start of the postseason.

With Peralta off the mound, Cleveland managed to score in the seventh inning on a double by Chase DeLauter that drove in Patrick Bailey. However, the run wasn't enough to get the Guardians back into the game.

For his part, Dominican Junior Caminero, one of the Rays' leading players during the regular season, finished with one hit and one walk in four at-bats.

In the ninth inning, Bryan Baker closed out the game, retiring all three Cleveland batters in a row to earn his fourth save of the postseason.

With this result, Freddy Peralta earned his first playoff win (1-0), while Parker Messick suffered his second loss (0-2). The American League Championship Series will continue in Cleveland, with both teams tied in the series.