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Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Archer Gives Up Five Runs In Rays Loss

Chris Archer pitches during the second inning at Progressive Field. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

If I had to sum up Saturday’s Rays and Indians game in a sentence, it’d go something like this: The Rays 5-0 loss to the Indians was a tale of pitching, both good and not so good. On the side of good pitching lies the Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez and the Rays long reliever Alex Torres. On the other side of the coin lies Chris Archer, who couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning cleanly.

Posting a 4 IP/7 H/5 R/5 ER/3 BB/4 K/2 HR slash line, it’s safe to say that Chris Archer had a tough day on the mound. The young righty was tagged with five runs in the second, third, and fifth innings, thanks to a pair of two-run homers by Jason Giambi and Azdrubal Cabrera. Giambi also plated a run on a third inning base hit, plating Jason Kipnis.

Archer wasn’t nearly as sharp with his two-seam fastball as he’s been in the past. Chris found the strike zone with only 12 of his 26 two-seam fastballs. To his credit, Archer’s changeup looked excellent, throwing 75% for strikes. Ironically, the two homers given up came on the same pitch, in the same location: letters high and over the outside third of the plate.

At-bat outcome chart (Courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

On the other hand, Ubaldo Jimenez was excellent against the Rays, whose exhaustion (after an early morning arrival in Cleveland Friday, combined with Friday night’s marathon game) showed at the plate. In his 108 pitch (72 for strikes) outing, Jimenez kept the Rays hitters off balance. Though he didn’t blow the Rays away — Jimenez’s fastball topped out at 94 MPH — his pitches had good movement, and he effectively moved the ball around the zone. Jimenez struck out seven Rays batters, while inducing 10 groundouts and seven pop-outs.

In my opinion, the narrative should revolve around Alex Torres. Then again, I’m biased. Nevertheless, the young lefty looked outstanding in relief of Archer, striking out six of the 13 batters he faced, while allowing only two base runners on a hit — a ground rule double up the left-field line, that looked like it hooked foul before passing third base — and a walk. Torres came on with a man aboard and no outs in the fifth inning, and proceeded to mow over the Indians batters. Alex was downright whiffy with his changeup, throwing 12 total and inducing 10 swings and misses.

Truth be told, Torres has looked impressive in all of his relief appearances with the Rays. So far he’s given up only one hit in 8-1/3 innings, while striking out nine. Though I’m not too impressed with his 4.15 BB/9 ratio, his 100% LOB% speaks volumes. That is, he’s allowed four base runners and stranded them all. What’s more, he was able to do something today that Archer was not. Torres protected an overworked bullpen from any more undue wear and tear; something that is ultimately invaluable in the scheme of things.

Moving Forward.

The New What Next

The Rays look to bounce back against a very tough Zach McAllister Sunday, in the rubber match of their current three game series. Jeremy Hellickson is still scheduled to start the game, though there is some conversation about the potential for Matt Moore to get the start instead. It all comes down to what the Rays training staff recommends. Whatever the case, we’ll know more later. You can read about Sunday’s scheduled match-up here.

Rays 6/2/13 Starting Lineup

Zobrist 2B
Joyce RF
Johnson LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Scott DH
Fuld CF
Lobaton C
Escobar SS
Hellickson RHP

A tale of two seasons: A comparison Rays offensive production after the first two months of the 2012 and 2013 seasons

I thought that it might be interesting to compare the Rays offensive production in the first couple of months of the 2012 and 2013 seasons. All things equal, the Rays had a markedly better May 2013 than the other months compared below — including April 2012 when the Rays were healthy and prior to being bitten by the injury bug.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays One-Hit the Indians in Marathon Game

I’m going to be honest with you, it’s insanely hard to summarize last night’s marathon between the Rays and Indians. One thing is certain though: Both the Rays offense and bullpen stepped up and throttled the Tribe Friday night/Saturday morning, handing the Tribe a 9-2 shellacking. The much maligned bullpen absolutely dealt, putting together a two-run (both unearned), one hit, two walk outing that should — if anything — show how deadly the Rays are when both the pitching and hitting are (close to) firing on all cylinders. It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that’s true, take a gander at the handful of screenshots below for a summary of last night’s game:

Rays offensive line score (Courtesy of Fangraphs)

Rays pitching line score (Courtesy of Fangraphs)

The New What Next

The Rays and Indians will quickly turn around and play a 1:10 game at Progressive Field. It should be mentioned that Friday/Saturday’s game ended just after 3:00 AM, after three rain delays totaling four hours and forty-nine minutes. Call me crazy, but I’d imagine that both teams are a bit exhausted. Per the Associated Press,

The teams had little choice but wait out the long delays. With a forecast for heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday, crew chief Fieldin Culbreth and the umpires figured they had to try to get in one game with the possibility the whole weekend could get washed out. The teams aren’t scheduled to meet again this season.

In a perfect world, Chris Archer will be able to eat up some innings today. Suffice to say, the bullpen arms are tired at best. He’ll be opposed by Ubaldo Jimenez. You can read more on the match-up here.

Rays 6/1/13 Starting Lineup

Matt Joyce RF

Kelly Johnson LF

Evan Longoria 3B

James Loney 1B

Desmond Jennings CF

Luke Scott DH

Ryan Roberts 2B

Jose Molina C

Yunel Escobar SS

Chris Archer SP

Noteworthiness

Ben Zobrist is getting the day off, with Ryan Roberts handling the second base duties and Matt Joyce getting the start in right-field.
Tampa Bay optioned Josh Lueke to Durham, recalling Alex Torres* to help a worn out bullpen.
Both Matt Joyce and James Loney went yard last night. It was Loney’s first multihomer game since Sept. 7, 2007.
There has been discussion about starting Moore on Sunday, pushing Hellickson back a bit.

*Editors note: after Torres’ last outing in relief some 12 days ago, I can’t help but feel that this is a great move!

The New What Next: Rays vs Indians, A Series Preview of Sorts

The red hot Tampa Bay Rays will take the show on the road for eight days, starting Friday. First stop: Cleveland, OH.

The Rays have made up an enormous amount of ground in the AL East — five games to be exact — in the last week, and they’ll attempt to take the series from the 29-24 Indians. The Tribe has struggled lately, having won only three of their last 10 games. However, Cleveland is 17-10 at home and has won their last two games. Furthermore, they’ve won 15 of their last 19 at home, outscoring opponents 105-64. All this is to say, it won’t be easy. Saturday marks the 2013 debut of Chris Archer, who is filling the void left in the wake of David Price’s DL stint.

Rays and Indians offensive production at home, away, and over the last 14 days

Corey Kluber: Per Rotowire, “Kluber gave up three earned runs on eight hits while striking out eight and walking none in 6.1 innings against the Tigers on Tuesday.” Kluber is coming off his finest outing of the season. The crack reporters at Lets Go Tribe found,

“In AAA last season Kluber struck out more than 9 a game and walked 3.5 and gave up only .6 HR per game, all in 125.1 IP. Then Kluber made 12 starts at the major league level with Cleveland and put up an ugly 5.14 ERA in 63IP. But if we look beyond the ERA we see the following peripheral numbers: 7.7 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 1.3 HR/9. Now the home runs are a bit concerning, but in 63 IP, none of these numbers are exceptionally stable, and specifically homeruns with a slightly high 13.4% HR/FB%. But, it is hard not to see that 3.00 K/BB and not see some potential. As mentioned recently about the Brett Myers signing and Myers’ issues with the long ball, Progressive Field tends to suppress homeruns and is in general a pitchers park. A guy like Kluber, may be able to perform at a decent level at the major league level if his homeruns against is cushioned and he can keep up a healthy K rate around 7 and walk rate below 3. In fact he could easily find himself as a strong mid to back end of the rotation arm based on something like that.”

Ubaldo Jimenez: Per Rotowire, “Jimenez held the Reds to two runs on four hits and four walks Monday, striking out six over seven innings of work, but did not factor into the decision in the Indians 4-2 loss.” Jimenez is 1-1 against Tampa Bay (over the last three seasons) with a 5.40 ERA in 11.2 total innings of work. In that time, the Rays have been able to tag Ubaldo with seven runs (all earned) on 12 hits — including a pair of homers — and six walks. Posting a combined .270 BA/.387 OBP/.444 SLG/.831 OPS slash line, the Rays will look to continue their success against Jimenez Saturday. Key match-ups: Yunel Escobar (6-16, HR, 2 RBI, 4 BB), Kelly Johnson (8-30, 4 2B, RBI, 9 BB), Evan Longoria (1-3), Jose Molina (2-4), Ryan Roberts (2-6), Luke Scott (3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI), Ben Zobrist (2-7, 2B, 2 BB).

Zach McAllister: Per Rotowire, “McAllister gave up three earned runs on 10 hits and one walk in 5.1 innings while striking out six Tuesday against the Reds.” McAllister hasn’t surrendered more than three earned runs in an outing all year. He allowed a season-high four runs (two earned) in a loss against the Rays on April 5, striking out three without a walk over six innings. Key match-ups: Sam Fuld (2-3), Jose Lobaton (1-3, 2B, BB), Evan Longoria (1-3), Luke Scott (2-6, 2B, 2 RBI), Ben Zobrist (2-8, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB).

Noteworthiness

Matt Moore will make his second bid to become the first nine-game winner in the major leagues, Friday night. The Rays LHP could become the first pitcher since Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010 with Colorado to win nine games before June 1. Moore will try to help Tampa Bay match a season high with a sixth consecutive victory.
The last time Moore faced the Indians, he struck out eight in a 4-0 home win. He yielded two hits – both to Michael Bourn – in six innings.
Per Yahoo Sports, “The Indians have again rebounded from a rough stretch at the plate, totaling 12 runs and 20 hits in back-to-back victories after scoring 14 runs during a season-high five-game skid. In a 7-1 victory over Cincinnati on Thursday, Cleveland plated all of its runs with two outs in the fourth inning.”
Evan Longoria has recorded 12 doubles in May, two shy of the club record for any month set by Ben Grieve in June 2002.
The Rays have won seven of their last nine away from Tropicana Field. The bullpen has improved, and Matt Joyce is 13-for-35 with three homers and 10 RBIs in his last 10 contests.

We’ll post more shortly.

Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Rays Sweep Marlins In Four Games

Alex Colome for the win! (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

I posed the question earlier, what’s better than a three-game sweep? The answer was and is obvious: a four-game sweep!

Tampa Bay took game four of the Citrus Series from the Marlins by a score of 5-2, after rookie RHP Alex Colome put together a solid 5-2/3 IP debut. Giving up one run (un-earned) on five hits and two walks, Colome struck out seven, while becoming the eighth Rays pitcher to win his debut outing.

Jamey Wright and Fernando Rodney also looked good, with Rodney putting together his fourth consecutive scoreless outing. Don’t look now, but Rodney’s given up only a walk in 3-1/3 innings of work.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge James Loney and Matt Joyce’s offensive contributions. Joyce went yard in the sixth, sending a two-run shot to right, while James Loney hit a solo shot to right in the seventh.

Tampa Bay heads to Cleveland Friday, just one game behind the second place Yankees. I’d reckon it’s kismet that the Yankees got swept in the Subway Series. The Rays are now five games over .500 for the first time this season, having won five games in a row.

We’ll post more later, including our series preview. Until then, Let’s Go Rays!