Archer fell to 3-4 on the season for Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
Sunday, 3 a.m.
Do the Tampa Bay Rays expect too little of pitcher Chris Archer?
Or do the rest of us expect too much?
Archer, a former all-star, stubbed his toe once again Saturday night in Seattle. He dropped a 3-1 game to the Mariners, the team's third straight defeat. The Rays fell below .500 once again; Tampa Bay has been over .500 on only four days this season.
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Ramos knocked in the Rays' only run./CARMEN MANDATO
Archer, who has a lifetime record 13 games below .500, lasted only five innings Saturday. He gave up seven hits.
Rays' manager Kevin Cash, however, thought he was good enough on a night when the team managed just five hits.
Robertson had two hits for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
“I actually thought he was pretty good," Cash said. "His velo (velocity) was way up. The slider was good. He had the one inning I know he’d like to have back. He gets two outs and then had a four-pitch walk to (Jean) Segura. It kind of snowballed from there."
Throughout Archer's career, the team has looked to him to stop slides such as this one, but he has not done it nearly enough.
Nelson Cruz singled in one run in the third, and Kyle Seager doubled in Mitch Haniger. Wilson Ramos doubled off the wall in the sixth to get the Rays to within one, but Ryan Healy added a seventh-inning home run.
For the Rays, Daniel Robertson had two hits.
Tampa Bay will try once more today at 4:10 p.m. when Blake Snell pitches against Felix Hernandez.
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