Why Freddy Peralta has reasonable excuse for brutal 9.31 ERA start with Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays traded for Freddy Peralta from the New York Mets at this year's trade deadline, hoping to turn him back to his former All-Star form.

Well, through three starts, he has a 7.53 ERA for the Rays. A huge reason for that figure is his brutal 9.31 ERA in the first two starts of his Rays tenure.

But, as USA Today's Bob Nightengale notes, Peralta actually might have an excuse for his struggles this season with the Rays. The excuse? He played in two of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.

Freddy Peralta has ballpark excuse for rough Rays start

"Freddy Peralta has hardly made a good first impression with his struggles in his first two starts with the Tampa Bay Rays (9.31 ERA, 15 hits and 10 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings), but his two starts have been in the high-altitude Colorado and the launching pad in Sacramento," Nightengale writes.

While Peralta's struggles with the Rays were quite concerning through his first two starts. His Rays' debut was a 3.2-inning, seven-run outing. He allowed three runs in 6.0 innings in Sacramento the following week.

Coors Field is notoriously a hitter's ballpark, and a nightmare for pitchers. Unfortunately, his first outing with the Rays was at a ballpark that's far from ideal.

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Peralta was a lot better against the Athletics, but he still allowed a couple of runs and got a no-decision. Those two ballparks back-to-back were a tough stretch to begin his Rays tenure.

He allowed two runs in 4.2 innings of work in Tampa Bay in his most recent start, which also wasn't exactly ideal, but it wasn't a terrible outing either.

Nightengale is somewhat excusing Peralta's 7.53 ERA through his first two starts with the Rays thanks to the unfavorable ballparks he had to pitch in. As he gets more familiar with the team and pitches in more favorable environments, he could turn things around.

It might be a step too far to completely excuse Peralta for his 7.53 ERA since the trade, but one bad start is doing some serious heavy lifting to make his Rays' production look a lot worse than it really is.

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