Peralta: Trial by fire
ATLANTA — For manager Craig Counsell, the decision to have Freddy Peralta start Monday in Game 3 of the NL Division Series for the Brewers against the Braves was easy.
Counsell said he considered no other options.
“Freddy was the starter,” Counsell said Sunday. “That was the plan from probably July.”
The best-of-five series is tied at one game apiece, putting pressure on Peralta and Braves starter Ian Anderson to give their team the edge. Each has returned from stints on the injured list to feel healthy entering the postseason.
“It means a lot for me,” said Peralta, who will make his first postseason start, after the team’s light workout at Truist Park. “I know it’s going to be a great experience. I always dreamed of this kind of moment because I always watched these kinds of games.”
Peralta won his only start against the Braves, pitching six scoreless innings in a 10-9 victory at Milwaukee on May 16. The right-hander was 10-5 with a 2.81 ERA in the regular season. He was on the 10-day injured list from Aug. 19 to Sept. 2 with right shoulder inflammation. He was 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA in five September starts and has not pitched in almost two weeks.
“I’ve been working these last few days,” Peralta said. That work included warming up in the bullpen in the eighth inning of Game 1 on Friday. “That helped a lot because my arm felt a lot better after that day,” he said.
Peralta, 25, has appeared in one postseason game, pitching three scoreless innings in relief against the Dodgers in the 2018 NL Championship Series.
Anderson, 23, has the edge in postseason experience. He is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA in four postseason games. He started in Game 7 of last season’s NL Championship Series loss to the Dodgers, allowing two runs in three innings.
Anderson said the playoff experience should have a calming effect on him Monday.
“I’ll be a little bit more comfortable,” Anderson said. “There’s not going to be those first-time nerves kind of because I did go through it last year. And I got that experience. So it’s going to be just channeling that energy from the crowd and not getting too overhyped.”
Anderson was 9-5 with a 3.58 ERA. A highlight came when he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of a 5-1 victory at Milwaukee on May 15.
He was on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation from July 16 to Aug. 19.
Anderson said he had “a little slower progression than I wanted” after returning from the IL, but he carries momentum into the postseason. He allowed only a combined three runs while winning his last two starts against Arizona and Philadelphia.
He allowed two runs in six innings in the Braves’ 5-3 victory over the Phillies on Sept. 30, which clinched the team’s fourth consecutive NL East title.
“Just the experience that Ian has had in his short major-league career is going to fend for him well,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s been on the biggest stage, Game 7 in NLCS.”