Freddy Peralta, Liam Hicks lift Rays to 3-1 win over Guardians, evening the ALCS at 1-1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the crowd chanting his name, a fired-up Freddy Peralta pumped one fastball after another past hitters all night long.

Peralta threw six innings of four-hit ball, Liam Hicks lined a two-run single after José Ramírez's fielding error and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 Tuesday night to even the AL Championship Series at 1-1.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Cleveland.

Peralta threw the hardest pitch of his big league career at 99.4 mph and relied on his four-seam fastball on 71 of 99 pitches — his 71.7% usage was his highest since June 11, 2019.

“It’s no secret that I trust in my fastball a lot and it’s my best pitch,” Peralta said.

Peralta's 96.9 mph average fastball velocity was 2.6 mph above his season average.

“It plays a big role, the adrenaline,” Peralta said. “And also I define myself as a competitor, and I like these kind of games. I’ve always said in the past, that I enjoyed this as a Dominican pitcher. I grew up watching the games in D.R., and that’s the game that you see. And I got used to that because I…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business