Archer fell to 4-13 on the season as the Orioles came from behind./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS
Saturday, 5:30 a.m.
Wasn't this where the Tampa Bay Rays were when their season was interrupted?
They were losing. They did that again Friday night, 4-3 to Baltimore.
They lost to a first-place team. It was the team's 18th straight loss.
Chris Archer again pitched just good enough to lose. This time, he gave up a tiebreaking home run to John Schoop in the eighth for the winning run. It was Archer's sixth straight loss.
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Logan Morrison grounds out for Rays./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS
The team struggled to get baserunners home. They had runners on first and third in the ninth inning, but Logan Morrison and Steven Souza Jr. both were struck out by Zach Britton to end the game.
And the beat goes on. The Rays have now lost 23 of 26 games.
Forsyth looks to advance against Baltimore./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS
“I liked the way Arch competed,” said manager Kevin Cash. “I thought he threw the ball really well to the end. ... You do feel for him because you want these guys to build off some successes, and I think Arch can pull plenty of positives from the outing. You take away a pitch here and there and he had a really good outing. Not at one point did he ever have that glitch where he lost command of the strike zone. It seemed like he was in attack mode the entire time, and he should feel really good about that.”
Cash said he would have replaced Archer in the previous inning, but chose to keep him in the game with two righthanders leading off the eighth. On the second pitch, Schoop homered.
Longoria make a play in the Rays' 4-3 defeat./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS
“I felt that Arch was the best option there to get those two righties,” Cash said. “I still feel that way, he just left a pitch up ... a slider up to Schoop.”
Archer said he felt good in the eighth, but it didn't matter because he didn't get the job done.
“I felt like I threw the ball well, but not well enough,” Archer said. “I did get deep. At the end of the day, if I could have one pitch back it would be the second pitch I threw to Schoop right there (in the 8th). The other stuff—they’re a good hitting team, they battled, but the ball in play, but it happens. And if I continue to build on that outing I think I’m gonna continue to put the team in a position to win every single night, and that’s the overall goal.
"It had nothing to do with how I felt—I didn’t execute a pitch. I left a cookie out there for a guy with a lot of power, and he made the most of it.””
Tonight, the Rays send Matt Moore to the mound to face Chris Tillman.
Rays' catcher Luke Maile had two hits in his first Rays game./TRAVIS PENDERGRASS
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