Braves rookie starter Williams Perez posted a solid outing against the Rays on Tuesday, throwing his first career complete game. Perez tossed eight innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked four and struck out one. But the Braves were unable to solve the Rays pitching, as they were shutout 2-0.
Perez (4-3, 4.21 ERA) did a good job of limiting the damage, despite the poor walk-to-strikeout ratio. The only runs he allowed came on a two-run homer by Kevin Kiermaier in the seventh inning.
Perez needed just 92 pitches--58 strikes--to get through the eighth. But he was outpitched by Erasmo Ramirez, who shut down the Braves' offense in this one.
This was a much-needed bounceback for the 24-year-old hurler. He had allowed a total of 14 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings over his previous two starts.