Red Sox look to hand Archer record loss
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The final month Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer's season is an ongoing effort to avoid too many dubious records as the Rays host his personal nemesis, the white-hot Boston Red Sox, to open a three-game series Friday.
Boston won its eighth in a row, completing a four-game sweep in Baltimore on Thursday, and leads Toronto by 5 1/2 games in the American League East.
Archer (8-18, 4.05 ERA) already has a share of the Rays record for losses in a season -- Tanyon Sturtze also had 18 in 2002 -- and is tied for the major league lead with former teammate James Shields. He has two starts remaining, so he's in jeopardy of becoming baseball's first 20-game loser since Detroit's Mike Maroth in 2003.
He'll try to avoid all this while facing a team in which he's lost 10 straight decisions, leaving him 1-10 with a 5.56 ERA in 15 career starts against the Red Sox. Seven losses came at Tropicana Field, and this season, he's 0-4, 6.65 in four starts versus Boston.
An odder distinction could come if he's able to lead the American League in losses and strikeouts, something that hasn't happened since Nolan Ryan did so in 1976.
The Rays have been solid in finishing series -- 4-1 in the final game of their last five -- but are 3-9 in the rest of the games.
"We've got them figured out on getaway days," manager Kevin Cash said after Thursday's 2-0 victory against the Yankees. "We can't quite figure it out before that, but we'll take this one for sure."
On Friday, the Red Sox turn to left-hander Drew Pomeranz, who is 2-5 with a 4.91 ERA in 12 starts since joining the Red Sox before the trade deadline from San Diego.
Pomeranz has been sharper against the Rays -- he's 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in four games (three starts), including a hard-luck 2-1 loss Aug. 25 in which he struck out a season-high 11 batters while holding the Rays to two runs on seven hits.
Boston has significant momentum going into the final week and a half of the season, and the Rays can do little to spoil the position the Red Sox have put themselves in with their latest surge.
"I just think we put ourselves in a better position," center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. told the Boston Herald before Thursday's 5-3 victory over Baltimore. "I feel like everybody's playing relaxed. Everybody's mentally and emotionally invested. Everything just seems to be clicking right now."