MILWAUKEE — Drew Rasmussen has been the epitome of an ace for the Tampa Bay Rays this postseason.
In three playoff starts, the right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, allowing three runs over 21 innings, striking out 23 and walking three.
After he last pitched in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, a 3-1 Rays win on Oct. 18, he could have started Game 1 of the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night on normal rest.
Tampa, though, is electing to get him an extra day of rest and throw off, instead giving the ball to veteran right-hander Nick Martinez for the opener of the best-of-seven series.
“We prioritized Drew getting an extra day. He’s had a pretty thick workload here,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Thursday during media day in defense of the decision. “We’ve relied on him heavily. We know when he takes the ball, we’re trying to get the full pitch allotment out of him.
“When Nick pitches, we win. So excited to hand Nick the ball (for) Game 1, and we’ll go from there.”
There’s not much of a drop-off in terms of the quality Martinez provided this season relative to Rasmussen. He threw a team-high 180 innings this regular season with a 3.10 ERA, trailing only Rasmussen (2.67) among starters.
It’s quite a come-up for a pitcher who signed a one-year contract with the Rays back in February.
“I’m sure you guys can remember my Spring Training wasn’t a great one. Now we’re here,” Martinez said. “Again, I think that speaks a lot about the type of people I have around me to kind of navigate this season and help me out and help me be in this situation, and we’re having a lot of fun with it.”
Martinez is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts this postseason. Those starts, though, have lasted a combined nine innings, which may be another factor in starting him Friday when the bullpen is at its freshest.
It always helps to have the fresher bullpen in theory, but I love the way Nick has competed,” Cash said. “I’m confident and trust that Nick is going to go and find a way to navigate through that lineup a couple times.”
Another impact of this decision is that it moves Freddy Peralta back to being Tampa’s Game 3 starter. While Cash provided a different reason for the choice, it prevents Peralta from the pressure of starting a World Series game in the stadium where he played his first eight major league seasons with the Brewers.
“Freddy’s workload in the CS was unique in that we did ask him to come out of the bullpen for an inning in between starts and felt like how much of a toll does that take? I don’t know,” Cash said. “I thought he threw a really good ballgame in Game 6, but I did think towards the end of that game, the velocities and stuff remained the same, the command took a little bit of a dip.
Peralta was 70-42 with a 3.59 ERA over 211 games (162 starts) with Milwaukee before he was traded to the New York Mets in January. He struggled in New York but was shipped to Tampa ahead of the trade deadline and responded with a 3.25 ERA in 10 regular-season starts and a 1.08 ERA across four postseason appearances (three starts) for the Rays.
He was named ALCS MVP after allowing one run on nine hits over 12 innings across three outings (two starts) against the Guardians.
“Getting to manage him, him walking in the door, I got a phone call from Willy Adames saying you’re getting one of the best guys in baseball. Come in here, he’s got a smile from ear to ear on his face,” Cash said. “I give Freddy a lot of credit for being a good pitcher and being vulnerable enough to say I wasn’t comfortable doing some things, and I want to get back to my strengths. He guided that through the entire two months he’s been with us, and he took off in September and has continued to take off in October.”