Archer was injured after throwing eight pitches./JEFFREY S. KING
Sunday, 3:30 a.m.
The Tampa Bay Rays suffered a painful loss Saturday night.
And no, no one is talking about the game to the Chicago White Sox.
Oh, the Rays lost that, too, by a score of 5-4. But an injury to starter Chris Archer left the Rays with an uglier possibility. The team, four games back in the wild-card race, doesn't need to try to do it without Archer.
Archer threw only eight pitches – and had two hit out of the park – in his
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Morrison hit his 35th homer of the year./CARMON MANDATO
start. The Rays are optimistic that Archer's injury isn't too serious, but further tests are planned.
“It's on the outside of his forearm,” said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. “We're going to get him checked out. We're cautiously optimistic that they're is no issue.”
Over his career, Archer has never won enough to satisfy his critics. However, he has logged a lot of innings, and playing chase in the wild-card standings would not be enviable.
Kiermaier had three hits for the Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
“In the bullpen prior to going into the game, I started feeling a little tightness in my forearm.” Archer said. “They call it the lateral site. I thought after I warmed up in game, it would be gone. I couldn't get there. It just felt it was smarter not to risk any further injury.
“I'll just go day to day and see how I feel tomorrow. I had a similar thing in 2013. I didn't miss any time. I think that before, it was technically a cramp. This was in the same area. It's not pain, it's tight. It didn't allow me to get to full extension. That's what leads to injury. I couldn't get anything down in the zone.”
Pruitt came in after Archer, but rain washed him away./JEFFREY S. KING
Archer said that trainer Ron Porterfield told him there was nothing in that area of his forearm to lead to injury.
“I take pride in taking the ball. I'll plan to continue that if I'm capable. Hopefully this is something that will subside in the next 24-48 hours.”
The Rays had plenty of chances to win the game anyway. Austin Pruitt took over for Archer, but he had to leave after a rain delay.
In the ninth, the Rays loaded the bases with no one out. But Evan Longoria hit into a double play and Logan Morrison struck out. In the seventh, the Rays had runners on first and third with one out, but Steven Souza Jr. fouled out, and Evan Longoria flied to left.
For the Rays, Kevin Kiermaier had three hits. Morrison hit his 35th home run, his sixth in the last six games.
Chicago scored all of its runs off of homers. Alen Hanson and Yomer Sanchez led off the game with back-to-back homers. Catcher Omar Narvaez added a homer in the fourth, and Avisail Garcia hit a two-run shot off Ryan Stanek (the sixth home run he's given up) in the seventh.
Tampa Bay turns to pitcher Matt Andriese for today's game against the White Sox. Andriese has not started for the team since June 10. He faces Chicago's Lucas Giolito at 2:10 p.m.
Stanek gave up another homer for Rays./CARMEN MANDATO
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