Murray: Rays interested in Skubal, Neto, Peralta

Peralta allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out four. He posted a 62 percent strike rate with a 30 percent CSW and a 12 percent swinging strike rate on the day. This was easily his best performance as a member of the Rays, and the first time he’s allowed no runs in a start since June 25th. Actually, it’s only the third time he’s allowed no runs in a start all season. As we expected, the Rays continue to have Peralta lean on his changeup more, even to righties, and he had a 31 percent swinging strike rate on the pitch on Tuesday. To righties, he located the pitch far better in the zone, but he focused on chases outside of the zone against lefties. He’ll look to keep it going with a revenge game of sorts against the Mets on Wednesday; although, it’s unclear who would want revenge on whom.

Neto stayed hot with a three-hit game against the Rangers on Saturday, scoring two of the Angels’ three runs in the win. He’s on a five-game hitting streak and is 12-for-23 (.521) with four runs, a home run, eight RBI, four doubles and a triple in that span. Neto is hitting .235 with a .746 OPS and 61 RBI.

The Pirates jumped on Skubal right away, putting three runs on the board on three hits in the first inning. He then worked through more traffic in the second, stranding two runners. Skubal would recover nicely thereafter, tossing five more scoreless innings, completing seven while collecting 11 strikeouts. The 29-year-old left-hander will take a 2.91 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and a 146/21 K/BB ratio across 120 2/3 innings into a start against his former team in Detroit on Friday.

Peralta got off to a bit of a rough start in this one. After allowing back-to-back hits to lead off the inning, one of which was an RBI single by Pete Alonso to score Jackson Holliday from second, he then walked Gunnar Henderson to put runners on first and second with no outs. He was fortunate enough to get out of the inning thanks to a double play ball by Samuel Basallo, but in the top of the second inning he would surrender a leadoff homer to Dylan Beavers to cut the Rays’ lead to 3-2. Peralta wouldn’t allow a run over the next two innings, but a sacrifice fly by Jackson Holliday in the fifth inning followed by a two-run homer by Pete Alonso put the O’s back on top 5-3. Peralta wouldn’t allow another run over his last two innings of work, but the Orioles got the best of him after managing just two runs against him when they faced off last week. Peralta’s next start is set for Wednesday on the road against the Tigers.

Neto opened the scoring in the top half of the first inning with an RBI single off of Peter Lambert. He then chipped in an RBI single in the fourth inning that extended the Halos’ lead to 6-2. Neto broke the game wide open with a 428-foot (107.6-mph EV) three-run blast off of Bryan King in the fifth inning that made it a 14-2 ballgame. Just for fun, he added on a two-run double in the seventh inning and a single off of LaMonte Wade Jr. in the ninth. The only thing he did wrong on the night was getting caught stealing for the 11th time on the season. With his impressive five-hit night, the 25-year-old shortstop is now slashing .231/.314/.422 with 21 homers, 61 RBI and 17 stolen bases.

Skubal gave up seven hits and nine hard-hit balls, but he struck out seven and was let down by his defense a couple of times in the game. He’s now 0-2 for the Dodgers, even though he has a 3.18 ERA in his three starts. He’ll face the Pirates next weekend.

Peralta also walked three batters in the contest while recording a pair of strikeouts. He hadn’t allowed a run when he was pulled with two men on and two outs in the fifth inning, only to watch Garrett Cleavinger come on to allow a pair of hits and both of those runners to score. Peralta got 13 whiffs on 76 pitches on the afternoon, registering a CSW of 24 percent. He’ll look to improve upon his disappointing 5.27 ERA and 1.48 WHIP when he squares off against these same Orioles in Baltimore on Friday.

There aren’t any rumblings of the dynamic shortstop dealing with any sort of injury, so it’s just a night of rest for Neto. Denzer Guzman will start in his place at shortstop and will bat sixth against Rangers’ star right-hander Jacob deGrom.

Neto doubled in the first inning, then drove in a run with a base hit in the third, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly. The 25-year-old shortstop is hitting .225/.309/.416 with 20 homers, 75 runs scored, 52 RBI, and 15 steals across 524 plate appearances.

Jac Caglianone singled and homered to drive in all three runs. Skubal finished up with six strikeouts, four of which came on his fastball. He averaged 97.4 mph with that offering, his third highest mark of the season. He also came in at 97.3 mph last time out, so it looks like his stuff might be peaking at a good time for the Dodgers. He’ll likely face the Brewers on Sunday.