Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Freddy Peralta gave up a leadoff home run to shortstop Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets, Peralta's former team, in the top of the first inning of Tuesday's game at Tropicana Field. 

From there, Peralta struck out seven without a walk as he completed six innings of work in what became a 6-2 Tampa Bay win. 

Following the victory, Peralta admitted there was "a little bit" of emotion related to facing the club that sent him to Tampa Bay ahead of the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline.

Freddy Peralta "really happy" to earn win over Mets

"I feel really happy right now, but I know it's a business. It's nothing to do with that," Peralta explained, per Adam Berry of the league's website. "I just enjoyed the game today [the same] as any game, and [I’m] happy because we got the win." 

This past offseason, the Mets traded pitcher Brandon Sproat and infielder/center fielder Jett Williams, top prospects at the time, to the Milwaukee Brewers for Peralta. Peralta then struggled as he went 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP over 22 starts and 113.2 innings. 

While Peralta largely failed to impress over his first few starts with the Rays, he completed six shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 26. He was then effective against the Mets after he got out of the first inning on Tuesday. 

"I have my confidence back," Peralta added after his latest win. "I think that's a more important thing for a pitcher, when you trust in your stuff again."

Did the Mets notice a different Freddy Peralta?

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Mets interim manager Andy Green said after his team's defeat that New York "didn’t have a ton of good swings" after the game's opening frame. Lindor didn't seem all that surprised that Peralta produced a solid outing against the last-place club. 

"Freddy is a tough pitcher," Lindor acknowledged. "He’s a really good pitcher. Sometimes the hitters win. Sometimes the pitcher wins, and today hats off to him."

Lindor and Co. may spend some time wondering what could have been for the 2026 Mets had the version of Peralta who pitched on Tuesday night featured for New York throughout the opening half of the ongoing campaign.