TAMPA — Ryan Pepiot started the Rays’ series opener against the Guardians on Thursday by throwing 13 straight fastballs, including 11 to eventually retire leadoff man Steven Kwan on a flyout to center field.
Pepiot didn’t stop bringing the heat all night, even as he battled the humidity on a muggy evening at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Pepiot struck out six batters as he grinded through five hitless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 15 innings as the Rays rolled to a 4-2 win, their seventh straight victory.
This is the Rays’ longest winning streak since a seven-game run from June 3-9, 2023, and it comes at an opportune time in the American League Wild Card race. They were trailing the Mariners for the third and final spot by 7 1/2 games when the streak began, but they are now only two games behind Seattle — the closest they’ve been to a playoff spot since July 26.
They are, as Pepiot said, “making things interesting.”
“We’ve been playing good team baseball,” he added. “Pitched it well, played good defense, and the guys have been swinging the bats unbelievably well.”
Pepiot walked two batters and hit another, but he finished his third straight scoreless start of five innings with a few other notable numbers — like the four jerseys, two pairs of uniform pants and two pairs of cleats he sweated through on the mound, plus at least one mound visit in which pitching coach Kyle Snyder delivered a towel for Pepiot to dry himself off.
And, of course, no hits. The Guardians didn’t pick up their first hit in the series opener until the sixth inning, when José Ramírez lined a two-out single to right field off reliever Bryan Baker.
“His stuff is as good now as it was in the early part of the year,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s been able to maintain it. … I mean, they’re not fun at-bats for guys.”
Indeed, Pepiot is showing no signs of slowing down on the mound even as the Rays manage his innings. He has thrown a career-high 163 innings in 29 starts, up from 130 innings over 26 outings last season, and Cash said the Rays are having “daily conversations” about their starters’ workloads.
Over his last three starts, Pepiot has put up 15 zeros while allowing two hits and six walks with 15 strikeouts. He is the second starter in the last 125 seasons to work at least five innings with one or zero hits allowed in three straight starts, joining the Padres’ Dylan Cease, who did so from July 13-25, 2024.
“I think it’s just trying to fill up the zone and keep hitters honest, not necessarily being in predictable hitters’ counts,” Pepiot said. “Even when I am, just still attacking the zone and making them hit it and make them hit their way on base.”
His all-heater duel with Kwan set the tone for the night. It was the second-longest at-bat this season to consist of a single pitch type, behind Zach Neto’s 13-sinker strikeout against the Orioles’ Yennier Cano on May 9.
Pepiot said he didn’t like Kwan’s swings against his fastball, so he kept throwing it.
And kept throwing it. And kept throwing it.
“Like, ‘Hit one of them earlier, man.’ I’m dying out there after that at-bat,” Pepiot said, laughing. “I just want it over with, man. If you want to get a hit, get a hit — but do it on pitch five or six, not on 12 or however many it took.”
Cleveland made the right-hander work, forcing him to throw 90 pitches by fouling off 23 of them, but couldn’t do any damage against him. Pepiot’s heavy fastball usage made his changeup that much more effective, as the Guardians whiffed on seven of their 11 swings against it.
“I thought he just pumped fastballs by us,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We knew he was going to come at us fastball-changeup. Didn’t have to use his changeup. He put us away with it, but I thought we got some fastballs to hit and missed them.”
Meanwhile, the Rays produced enough offense to withstand back-to-back ninth-inning homers off closer Pete Fairbanks. They’ve scored at least four runs in all seven games during this winning streak, and they got there Thursday without recording an extra-base hit thanks to timely contributions from Christopher Morel (three hits, two runs, one RBI) and Carson Williams (two RBIs, including one on a squeeze bunt).
“We’re doing a lot of things well,” Cash said. “We’re making the big pitch when we need to. We’re getting the guys in from third base or second base. A lot of things are going our way. We’re playing good defense. Just want to see it continue.”
