The Rays rolled to their sixth consecutive win by a score of 4-1 Tuesday night, as Chris Archer put together a good 6 IP/3 H/1 R/2 K outing against the Twins. You guessed it, it’s time for another edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Argyle: A Bulleted Game Summary.
The Good
- The Rays are keeping their foot on the gas. Tuesday night’s win was their sixth consecutive, and their 15th in a 20-game stretch extending back to June 19th.
- Two out runs in the fourth inning. As we’ve documented in each series preview, the Rays have been scoring a plethora of two-out runs of late, and we’re all better for it. Tampa Bay has scored 32 two-out runs extending back to the Astros series, last night being no different. In fact, all of the Rays runs were scored with two outs. With two on, James Loney battled back from an 0-2 count to pick up a walk. Matt Joyce and Kelly Johnson followed, each driving in a pair of runs on a single and a double (respectively). Joyce impressively scored all the way from first.
- Archer was pretty darn good. In his first couple of starts after being called up, there were questions of whether Chris Archer was ready for the big leagues. His “stuff” was never in question. Two things were holding him back: A. Control of his emotions, and B. Control of his pitches. If his last three starts are indicative of anything, Archer looks more like a big league pitcher. He seems to have calmed his emotions — he’s less bouncy, and more in control overall. Though he got off to a shaky start, Archer got better as his outing progressed, retiring 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, ultimately giving up only two hits. Better yet, he didn’t allow any walks. Archer’s pitching breakout: four-seam fastball (47 total, 32 for strikes, 3 whiffs), change-up (13 total, 8 for strikes, 1 whiff), slider (17 total, 11 for strikes, 2 whiffs).
- Torres, Torres, Torres. 1 IP/0 H/0 R/0 BB/2 K on 16 total pitches (11 for strikes). ‘Nuff said!
- Jake McGee! 1 IP/0 H/0 R/0 BB on seven total pitches (five for strikes). Again, ’nuff said!
The Bad
- Longo, how come you no hit? Evan Longoria has just five hits in the last 13 games, all being singles. This includes going 0-3 last night with a walk. Fun fact, this matches the longest stretch of games without an extra-base hit, the last time being 2010.
- Chris Archer’s throwing error, and two hit batters. Though Archer didn’t allow any walks, he did bean a pair of batters — one of which accounted for the Twins sole run. His errant pickoff attempt in the sixth inning was the first error for the Rays in 10 games, allowing Brian Dozier to move from first to third, subsequently setting up the Twins only run.
The Argyle
- GB/FB. I could be making too much of nothing, but Chris Archer induced 11 fly-outs and five ground-outs. His GB/FB ratio prior to last night was (about) 48%/31%.
The New What Next
Jeremy Hellickson will attempt to sink Minnesota, earning the Rays their fifth consecutive series victory. He’ll butt heads with Kevin Correia and the Twins. You can read about the pitching match-up here.
Rays 7/10/13 Starting Lineup
Jennings CF
Scott DH
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Myers RF
Johnson LF
Molina C
Escobar SS
Hellickson RHP
Noteworthiness
- We re-posted a wonderfully written a piece titled In Defense of the Trop earlier today. Penned by Ryan from The Cheap Seats blog, Ryan takes issue with the fans that don’t attend games on a semi-regular basis, for seemingly inane reasons. Highly recommended!