Breaking down Ryan Pepiot's first start against the Texas Rangers

The Rays' additional piece they recieved during the Tyler Glasnow-Dodgers trade, Ryan Pepiot, got his first start with Tampa Bay inside of Tropicana Field against the Texas Rangers this week.

Although the Rays lost 9-3 and Pepiot gave up six earned runs, he provided lots to look at for the Rays' coaching staff during the very early stretches of the 2024 season.

All in all, Rays' manager Kevin Cash seemed relatively satisfied with how Pepiot was in his debut.

"That was a little bit of an odd outing...He really threw the ball pretty well. You take away the walks, and I think were all pretty pleased with the stat line."

The walks Cash is referring to totaled four on the day. However, Pepiot did hold a reigning World Series-winning lineup to a .200 average. So why were there so many earned runs? Well, half of them came off of a Josh Jung three-run homer to open the game's scoring. This could have been due to being "amped" up in your first start with a new team.

Rays' Ryan Pepiot showed more than the box score in team debut

However, Pepiot kept runs off of the board for the next four innings following the Jung home run ball. He did so in under 40 pitches, with just one dozen balls thrown as opposed to strikes. The fastball looked tuned in, as the three strikeouts he had all game came off of a high-rising four seamer.

Pepiot was pulled after 5.2 innings of work. Despite the questionable amount of earned runs, he did give up just four hits during his first start as a Tampa Bay Ray,

He will be expected to play in a starter role a lot more this season, especially considering that the Rays' normal starting pitching rotation has undergone a lot of injuries, with some big names not expected to return for a good while. In the larger context, Pepiot did more than enough.