Archer battled his way through six scoreless innings, despite throwing 113 pitches. The righty had a hard time commanding his pitches — especially his slider — early on, though he was able to strand runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings.
Even when five batters reached on two errors and three walks, Archer was able to hold Baltimore to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, with the one hit being an infield single. The striped one settled down and retired six of the final seven batters he faced after getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. Archer finished the month with 50 strikeouts, tying the club record for August held by Scott Kazmir (2007). His 223 strikeouts on the season are tied for third in franchise history.
It didn’t hurt that he was aided by one of the best plays of the season, when Kevin Kiermaier robbed Manny Machado of a leadoff solo home run in the first.
Kiermaier came down hard on his right ankle and, after getting it taped, felt bad enough to leave the game after batting in the third. Following the game, Rays manager Kevin Cash said that X-Rays on the center fielder’s ankle came back negative, and Kiermaier is listed as day-to-day. Kiermaier added that he’s “not too worried” about the ankle, saying also that he’s had worse sprains over the years. He added a caveat though, noting that there could be some bone bruising in addition to the sprain. He remains hopeful to play Tuesday night.
The Rays powered their way to victory, thanks to six extra base hits and three, two-out runs batted in.
Forsythe tripled right center to leadoff the second, and scored on a Tim Beckham sacrifice-fly to center off LHP Wei-Yin Chen.
Tampa Bay extended its lead in the fourth after Forsythe hit a two-out single to left. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a towering two-run homer to left field — his 10th of the season. Then in the fifth, the Rays added two more runs to chase Chen.
Rene Rivera led off the inning with a deep double to left. Brandon Guyer was able to move Rivera to third on a single to center. And while Joey Butler grounded into a double play to short, Rivera was able to cross the plate for the fourth run of the game. Evan Longoria gave the Rays a five run lead by lifting a backspin homer to right-center.
Then in the sixth, Tim Beckham homered off reliever Brad Brach, his seventh, for a six run advantage.
Since his July 12 call-up, @T_Beckham22 has a .283 avg., .550 SLG. This homer helped. WATCH: http://t.co/axJw9VkXKZ pic.twitter.com/EN4r5YmLIa
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 1, 2015
However, Matt Andriese entered in the seventh and allowed the Orioles to cut the lead in half. After Caleb Joseph and Gerardo Parra reached on a pair of opposite field singles, Adam Jones singled in the first run. Then with two outs, Steve Clevenger added a two-run single after a walk of Matt Wieters. Jonathan Schoop grounded into an inning ending fielder’s choice to short to end that threat. Alex Colome wasn’t having any of it in the eighth, and restored the order with a 1-2-3 frame — coaxing a grounder out of Ryan Flaherty, and ringing up both Joseph and Manny Machado on a pair of filthy sliders. Brad Boxberger then pitched a scoreless ninth for his 33rd save, the most in the American League.
The New What Next
Drew Smyly (1-2, 3.82 ERA) will make his fourth start since returning from the DL, opposite of RHP Chris Tillman (9-9, 4.58 ERA). Smyly allowed three earned runs on eight hits Thursday against the Twins. Tillman is 1-2 in four starts against the Rays this season. He beat them Opening Day and then lost his next two appearances. Tillman did not get a decision in Baltimore’s 3-1 loss on July 24. He has also suffered two straight losses while allowing 14 runs over his past 22 innings. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 9/1/15 Starting Lineup
Sizemore LF
Nava RF
Longoria 3B
Jaso DH
Forsythe 2B
Cabrera SS
Loney 1B
Guyer CF
Arencibia C
Smyly LHP
Noteworthiness
— The Rays announced their first round of September call ups, calling up 3B/1B Richie Shaffer, OF Mikie Mahtook, C Luke Maile, LHP Matt Moore, LHP CJ Riefenhauser, and RHP Kirby Yates. Moore is slated to take a spot in the rotation, potentially this weekend against the Yankees. The team designated SS Hak-Ju Lee to make room on the 40-man roster for Maile. Lee was considered the top player — ahead of Archer — in the package Tampa Bay got from the Cubs in the January 2011 Matt Garza trade. Lee hasn’t been same since undergoing knee injury in 2013. He spent the last two seasons with Triple-A Durham.
Other players could be added later this week or after the September 7th, the end of Durham’s season, with LHP prospect Blake Snell among the possibilities. Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote more on the subject in his latest Heater piece.
— Maile on his MLB call-up: “I walked out to the field, and had to turn around. It didn’t even look real.”
— Tampa Bay signed OF Jose Constanza to a minor-league deal. Constanza played in 112 games with the Braves from 2011-14. He joined Durham.
— Kiermaier broke the laws of physics!
#Outlaw just breaking all the laws of physics: http://t.co/Gx0T27RYkf #Statcast pic.twitter.com/x66iUTvhNn
— #Statcast (@statcast) September 1, 2015