Game 3 of the World Series brings a remarkably familiar opponent for the Milwaukee Brewers in Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, whose eight years in Milwaukee coincided with the best run in franchise history.
The right-hander has been on a remarkable run since he was traded from the New York Mets to the Rays at the deadline, one year and 12 days since he pitched his final game for the Brewers in the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"There's a lot of emotion because those guys know each other so well, so you gotta keep that emotion under control," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Oct. 26, hours before the Brewers tried to expand their World Series lead in the series to 3-0 against the American League Championship Series MVP Peralta. "It comes down to pitches, it comes down to you and the ball, not so much you and the pitcher. So I don't look at that as an advantage or disadvantage.
"You get to do this a lot in baseball, 30 different teams, a lot of those guys play for you. My first managerial win ever in 2015 [as interim manager with the San Diego Padres], I had a 24-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper [delivered] from Eric Sogard, who played for me in college. I nicknamed him Soda Boy because he used to make sure my drink of choice gets on the bus. He was a freshman, so he was Soda Boy. He beat us the first game I ever managed. He beat us with a hit in the ninth."
Sogard, who played under Murphy at Arizona State, played for another team with Murphy on staff when he joined the Brewers in 2018 and 2020. Murphy pointed out another obvious example, that close friend Craig Counsell manages his team's biggest rival, the Chicago Cubs.
"You're going to have that throughout the league with so many players," Murphy said. "You just have to play baseball."
Peralta had a 3.25 ERA over 10 games with the Rays in the regular season. In the playoffs, he has allowed just two earned runs in 16⅔ innings, with 12 strikeouts and seven walks, good for a 1.08 ERA.
In his last 11 appearances including regular season and playoffs, he has allowed five earned runs in 50⅔ innings, good for a 0.88 ERA.
Countering is Robert Gasser, who's made two strong postseason outings thus far after rolling through a promising September.
In his last eight outings including playoffs, he's allowed seven earned runs in 41⅓ innings, good for a 1.52 ERA. He allowed just one earned run in nine playoff innings so far.
"This year he's found himself a little bit uncertain of himself and then got a little more certain, so I think it is something that is a matter of confidence, and his confidence is in a good spot," Murphy said of Gasser. "But now you've got to execute pitches."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: World Series Game 3 pitching matchup features Freddy Peralta vs. Robert Gasser