Rays' bullpen shines after Pepiot's early hook

CLEVELAND -- About two hours before the start of the Rays’ matchup against the Guardians on Thursday, manager Kevin Cash sat in the visitors’ dugout at Progressive Field and raved about Ryan Pepiot’s pitch mix.

Once the game started, the crowd at Progressive Field only got to see 38 examples of that pitch mix, as Tampa Bay’s top starter threw just two innings in the club's 5-2 win before being lifted due to a dip in velocity.

Pepiot’s fastball averaged 93.6 mph, which is 1.3 mph lower than his season average of 94.9. His changeup was also 1.5 mph slower than his season average (84.4 mph, compared to 85.9).

“He’s fine. He’ll make his next start,” manager Kevin Cash said. “After [watching the first two innings], we decided it was best to just get him out of the game.”

The outing is tied for the shortest of Pepiot’s career, and his 38 pitches are the lowest amount he’s had in any Major League appearance. Pepiot is now at 115 innings this season, which is his career high in an MLB season.

“It’s been a long season for him, and we felt a lighter workload would help him finish out the year,” Cash said.

Last season with the Dodgers, Pepiot only threw 64 2/3 innings between Triple-A and MLB after missing the start of the season with a left oblique injury. The year prior, he threw 127 2/3 frames between the two levels. Both the Dodgers and the Rays have done their part to limit the amount of innings Pepiot has worked, as he’s pitched behind an opener seven times in his career and has only gone more than six innings once.

“They made a decision, and it was the right one,” Pepiot said.

Pepiot said he wasn’t sure why his velocity was down and that everything felt fine during pregame warmups.

“It felt like I didn’t have any extra zip on anything,” Pepiot said.

This isn’t the first time the Rays have done something like this. In August 2022, starter Drew Rasmussen tossed three hitless innings on 33 pitches before being lifted. After that start, Cash said that lifting Rasmussen was part of the team’s plan, as they had two scheduled off-days on the calendar and wanted to be mindful of the right-hander's innings count.

Pepiot’s early hook on Thursday came in a bit of a different situation. Not only are the Rays on the back-end of a 10-game road trip against three division leaders, but they’re the first team in MLB history to face off against three consecutive division leaders on a road trip in September.

“Coming into the season, we looked at this trip and knew each of these teams [Orioles, Phillies, Guardians] would be in the postseason hunt,” said first baseman Josh Lowe, who went 1-for-3 with a run scored. “We’ve been playing competitive baseball lately and it just hasn’t fallen our way, but tonight was a testament to us.”

Reliever Cole Sulser was the first pitcher Cash called upon after Pepiot exited, and the right-hander rewarded his manager’s faith in him with three scoreless frames -- an inning longer than Pepiot’s start ended up being.

“We don’t win the game without him,” Cash said. “We pushed him and tried to squeeze one more out of him, and he did it.”

Sulser, whom the Rays acquired from the Mets at the end of July, has now tossed 9 2/3 scoreless innings in his five appearances (two starts) with Tampa Bay. Three of those five outings have been for two or more innings.

“I feel like having multiple pitches has helped me keep hitters off balance and allowed me to have success in whatever role the Rays need me in,” Sulser said.

After Sulser, Mason Montgomery, Garrett Cleavinger, Manuel Rodríguez and Richard Lovelady combined to allow one hit over the last four innings for a bullpen that was a man short thanks to Edwin Uceta serving the last day of his two-game suspension.

“This was great for the bullpen,” Sulser said.

Additionally, José Caballero went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI and also stole his American League-leading 40th base, making him the fourth player in Rays history to steal at least 40 bases in one season.

“He’s done a good job in the second half of picking spots to go,” Cash said. “But every time he gets on base, the pitcher, catcher and opposing dugout are extremely mindful of him.”