ST. PETERSBURG — Freddy Peralta will start Game 2 of the American League Division Series for the Tampa Bay Rays, manager Kevin Cash confirmed Saturday night after ace Drew Rasmussen threw eight dominant innings in a 1-0 Game 1 victory over the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field.

Peralta’s assignment caps a remarkable turnaround since the Rays acquired him from the Mets at the trade deadline. In six starts with Tampa Bay, he went 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA, striking out 27 batters while issuing only nine walks across 34 innings — a stretch that earned him AL Pitcher of the Month honors for September.

“Everything changed when I got traded. I said it before, that I’ve been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it,” Peralta said after Game 1. “For me and my family, this is a great opportunity to be able to be the pitcher for the second game in the ALDS.”

Peralta had been available to pitch out of the bullpen Saturday if Rasmussen faltered, a contingency the Rays modeled after the way the Milwaukee Brewers used him in the 2024 National League Wild Card Series, when he pitched four innings as a starter in Game 1 before returning to throw an inning in relief in Game 3. Rasmussen made that planning moot. Closer Bryan Baker handled the ninth, and the Rays’ other 10 ALDS roster pitchers never left the bench.

“I was available for any situation, but knowing and understanding that Monday probably was going to be my opportunity,” Peralta said.

Pitching coach Kyle Snyder credited Peralta’s late-season surge to a return to fundamentals rather than any dramatic mechanical overhaul. “It’s a testament to him returning to form and kind of recapturing what he’s always been,” Snyder said. “I wanted him to be himself again and not continue to chase the fix.”

Snyder noted that Peralta was not far removed from elite form heading into this season. “Once you share with him what he does well, what he used to do well, who he was — and he wasn’t that far removed from in 2025 being a top five Cy Young Award candidate — I think we do a good job of sharing with them what makes them unique. We went back to that.”

Peralta, who is making his seventh postseason appearance across nine playoff trips — six of them with Milwaukee — said the Rays’ culture accelerated his recovery. “Since I got here, I felt something I was looking for, which is the energy, the way that the boys play the game,” he said. “When I talk about the defense, they are amazing, the way they come into the field, the way they take their at-bats, too. When I talk about the offense, it’s amazing.”

Rasmussen recalled Cash’s pregame instructions as characteristically brief. “All he said was, ‘Hey, Ras, you’re starting [Game 1],’” Rasmussen said. “After that, it’s all hands on deck.”

Game 2 is scheduled Monday at Tropicana Field before the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.