Rangers 5 - 4 Rays
Final
  for this game

Archer hopes to rebound in opener with Rangers

May 7, 2015 - 2:17 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Archer tries to bounce back from his worst start of the season on Thursday when the Tampa Bay Rays open a four-game series with the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field.

After four consecutive starts without allowing an earned run, Archer took the loss Saturday in Baltimore, as he walked four batters and allowed four earned runs in six innings against the Orioles. He is 3-3 on the year with a 1.64 ERA.

"Well, Arch looked human tonight, compared with what he's done the past month," said Rays manager Kevin Cash of his ace's subpar performance. "I still thought he threw the ball well. He was battling his command a little bit, left some fastballs up in the zone, didn't quite have the 'miss' on the slider that we had seen."

Archer is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers

Tampa returns home tonight after going 4-5 on a nine-game road trip that culminated with a series win in Boston. On Wednesday, Evan Longoria hit a pair of solo homers and scored three runs in Rays' 5-3 win over the Red Sox in the rubber match of a three-game set at Fenway

Joey Butler drove in two runs for the Rays, who will be home for the next eight games. Alex Colome (2-0) allowed two runs on four hits with four strikeouts over five-plus innings.

Texas, meanwhile, slowed down the red-hot Houston Astros, as it not only stopped their 10-game winning streak, but swept their Lone Star State rivals in a three-game set at Minute Maid Park. The Rangers outscored them 20-5 in the series.

On Wednesday, Carlos Peguero belted a pair of homers and Colby Lewis continued his mastery of the Astros in an 11-3 victory.

Peguero finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, but was far from the only Ranger with a big night offensively. Robinson Chirinos also knocked in three runs, Shin-Shoo Choo clubbed a two-run homer and Adrian Beltre went 3-for-5 with two runs scored in the lopsided win.

"It was really nice to see the offense show," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "The one thing we did today was we continued to add on runs."

Lewis (2-2) didn't need much help to improve to 6-1 lifetime against Houston, including 5-0 at Minute Maid Park. The right-hander yielded just a run on six hits while fanning six over a season-best eight innings.

Texas' rotation ERA over the last 14 games is 2.56, which is the third-best mark in baseball in that stretch.

Hoping to add to that on Thursday will be righty Nick Martinez, who has been equally as good as Archer this season, going 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA. Martinez, though, had his worst outing on Saturday against Oakland and did not get a decision, as he surrendered five runs (2 earned) and seven hits in six innings of his team's 8-7 win.

Texas has won all five of Martinez's starts this season, but are 6-16 when anyone else starts.

Tampa took five of seven from the Rangers in 2014.






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