Pepiot dominates, sets career high with 11 K's to fuel Rays' win

DENVER -- Growing up and playing college baseball in Indiana, Ryan Pepiot pitched in his share of unfriendly weather. He said he pitched through sleet, walked onto fields with piles of snow shoveled off to the side and once scaled the mound on a 25-degree day.

So, as his teammates donned layers and put on long sleeves to stay warm on another cool, windy day in Denver’s Lower Downtown, Pepiot went to work wearing only his uniform Sunday afternoon. No sleeves, no undershirt, no problem.

“It was actually a really nice day,” Pepiot said.

It turned out to be an even better day for Pepiot. The right-hander looked right at home at Coors Field, striking out a career-high 11 batters without a walk and allowing only three hits over six scoreless innings as the Rays secured their first series victory of the season with a 3-2 win over the Rockies.

“Strikeouts are great. Efficient innings are better than striking out the world,” Pepiot said. “No walks, it's the big one. That's the biggest takeaway for me today.”

Having gained some experience in similar environments during his time in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, Pepiot is clearly comfortable pitching at Colorado’s mile-high altitude. His previous career-best strikeout mark of nine also came in a six-inning outing at Coors Field for the Dodgers on Sept. 26 last season.

After battling his control of the strike zone early in his Rays debut, the 26-year-old was in command from the start in Sunday’s series finale. He set out to fill up the strike zone and get quick outs, and he did exactly that. Pepiot faced 20 batters and threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of them. Overall, 67 of his 94 pitches were strikes.

Working with Pepiot for the first time, catcher Ben Rortvedt said they got on the same page “really early” and focused on pounding the zone with everything he had. When he got ahead in the count, Pepiot’s three-pitch mix was dominant. The Rockies took 51 swings against him and missed on 21 of them, marking the Rays’ first 20-whiff performance since Tyler Glasnow -- the pitcher Pepiot was traded for -- racked up 22 last Sept. 6.

The Rockies only put nine balls in play against Pepiot, and only three of those qualified as hard-hit balls. Pepiot’s slider and changeup were on point, and his fastball was particularly effective, inducing 13 whiffs and finishing seven of his 11 strikeouts.

“Really impressive by Pep,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The commitment to the strike zone is what is allowing him to have so much success.”

The Rays had to rally late to win Saturday night, but they gave Pepiot an early lead. The highlight came in the second inning, when Austin Shenton pulled a run-scoring double to right field against Dakota Hudson and scored on a single by Jose Siri. In one sequence, the rookie infielder recorded his first Major League hit, RBI and run.

“It felt amazing,” Shenton said. “I know it gets cliché, but it is a dream come true.”

Of course, nothing at this ballpark seems to come easy, not even after a performance like the one Pepiot delivered. So once again, the Rays found themselves in a tense situation in the late innings.

After giving up a run in the eighth, reliever Phil Maton exited with the bases loaded and nobody out. Shawn Armstrong calmly worked out of the jam, getting an out at the plate on Ryan McMahon’s grounder then inducing a double-play ball from Kris Bryant.

Shortstop José Caballero fielded the ball and fired it to second. Brandon Lowe had to reach across his body for the first out and quickly reset to make the tough turn, and Shenton made a clean pick at first.

“Just doing whatever we could to make sure we kind of kept the game where it was and make the good pitches that Army threw kind of pay off,” Lowe said. “Glad we were able to turn it -- and glad Shenton picked me up at the back end of it.”

With no relievers available behind Armstrong and closer Pete Fairbanks, who would have pitched the 10th inning if the Rockies tied it, the Rays sent Armstrong back out to handle the ninth. He worked around a leadoff walk and a one-out RBI single to secure his first save since Sept. 9, 2022.

“We got the W,” Armstrong said. “That's what's most important.”