Archer felt he accomplished all he wanted toagainst a Boston lineup chocked full of players who are expected to crack the Opening Day roster. The righty hurled two hitless innings, striking out one while hitting a batter; 15 of his 26 pitches went for strikes.
Going into the game, Archer’s goal was to be over the plate with everything. He focused on his change-up, throwing it more frequently than normal, while using his slider just three times. Archer noted the reaction of Boston’s A lineup to his change-up, saying,
That was one thing I was happy about, every batter I faced is probably going to be in their Opening Day lineup, so it was good to get positive feedback from that.
Worked on the changeup quite a bit (Friday). I know that I threw quality changeups when the scoreboard said slider, and it really was a changeup. And that happened probably four or five times because I only threw three total sliders. So I was really happy with that.
Sometimes you find small things that validate your work, and that’s it. Because those guys are supposed to be professionals at identifying pitches for the fans. If it has the same late action and depth as my slider, then mission accomplished.
Manager Kevin Cash thought the righty looked good, adding that Archer was efficient. The skipper also liked the depth of his change-up.
Kyle McPherson followed Archer with two strong innings where he allowed just a run on Jackie Bradley’s solo homer.
Tampa Bay tied the game in the fourth inning when James Loney doubled to left-center against Craig Kimbrel. Tim Beckham followed by slashing a bullet to Xander Bogaerts at short. After making the pick, Bogaerts sailed a throw past Hanley Ramirez at first, scoring Loney.
Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Logan Morrison singled, then came home on Loney’s second double of the day ― a hard grounder to left. The tandem of Loney and Morrison had two hits each.
Yet Boston scored six runs in the sixth and seventh innings against Jhan Marinez (two on infield singles) and Adam Reifer respectively.
The New What Next
The Rays will head north to Sarasota where Drew Smyly will get the start opposite Kevin Gausman and the Baltimore Orioles. Also expected to see action are Andrew Bellatti, Eddie Gamboa, Ryan Garton, Mark Sappington, Enny Romero and Justin Marks. We’ll post the starting lineup upon availability.
Rays 3/5/16 Starting Lineup
Miller SS
Kiermaier CF
Dickerson DH
Forsythe 2B
Morrison 1B
Pearce 3B
Guyer LF
Casali C
Shaffer RF
Smyly LHP
Noteworthiness
― Cash was pleased with RHP prospect Jake Faria, who had an impressive debut.
― Richie Shaffer left the game in the ninth inning after being on the left knee by a pitch with two outs. Sahffer is fine and expects to be ready for game action on Saturday.
― The skipper told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) that Steven Souza Jr. had a good batting practice session in the cage, and will do the same on Saturday. Souza is recovering from a left intercostal strain, and could be in games by March 10th.