CHICAGO -- Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Ryan Pepiot was looking forward to his 30th start. Reaching 30 for the season was a big milestone in his eyes, and he was set to accomplish that with an expected start on Wednesday.
Just seven hours later, though, Pepiot was scratched due to fatigue before the Rays fell to the White Sox, 6-5, at Rate Field on Wednesday.
“I think it's just kind of lingered a little bit from the last start,” Pepiot said. “Just full body fatigue, but also just understanding where we're at in season, innings, and they're just trying to do what's right by me and protecting me. Take it day by day and go from there.”
With Pepiot out, the Rays decided to roll with a bullpen game. Griffin Jax got the start and did his job by getting out of the first inning unscathed. Unfortunately, things unraveled for Mason Montgomery in the second. He allowed five runs on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. His day was over after just two-thirds of an inning, and Tampa Bay never recovered from that deficit.
“He’s going through it right now,” manager Kevin Cash said of Montgomery. “Nothing’s going his way, and I think it comes down to execution of pitches. He got to two strikes with some guys, had really good stuff. But when you look at the breaking ball that was left to [Mike] Tauchman, that was middle-middle, try to bury that or get him to expand out of the zone, and he didn’t have to.”
The Rays have been closely monitoring Pepiot’s innings in recent weeks after he threw only 130 innings last season. The right-hander is already up to 163 innings, which is why the team has been limiting him to roughly five innings over his past few starts.
Although Pepiot has gone only five innings in three straight outings, he was fantastic in each of those starts. The 28-year-old turned in scoreless outings each time, which included five no-hit innings with two walks and six strikeouts against the Guardians in his most recent appearance.
But as Pepiot was preparing for his next start, his body just didn’t feel right. Both the coaching staff and Pepiot talked through several things and determined it was best to skip his start.
“It was kind of just a mix of everything,” Pepiot said. “Mix of talking with the strength staff, training staff, and talking with [Kyle Snyder] and Cash. Just came to the conclusion that the best thing to do is just not throw today and take it day by day.”
There is no clear timeline on when Pepiot will take the ball. Ian Seymour will start Thursday’s series finale, and Shane Baz (Friday), Drew Rasmussen (Saturday) and Adrian Houser (Sunday) are set to pitch vs. the Cubs this weekend.
“The timeline is pretty simple,” Cash said. “He expressed that he was just not feeling like himself, and I have talked about it publicly, like we're managing workloads of him, Rasmussen and Baz, all of these guys, and want to do right by them. Ryan Pepiot has had a tremendous year and has had a really good season for us and a healthy workload. So, we'll be mindful and kind of take it day to day and see how he feels.”
Pepiot said his fatigue wasn’t arm-related; it had more to do with general body fatigue in the midst of a career-high workload. This is only the second time he has exceeded 105 innings pitched in a season.
The good news is that Pepiot doesn’t believe his fatigue will shut him down for the season.
“That wasn't really part of the conversation,” he said. “It was more just about today, and then I know going forward, we're going to have more conversations about that. It wasn't, ‘Hey, you're done.’ It was nothing like that. They just didn't want to put me in risk where if I went out there today and threw, and something major happened.”
Cash had a similar response when asked if Pepiot would pitch again this season.
“I don’t see why he shouldn’t,” he said.