TAMPA BAY 3
SEATTLE 1
SEATTLE 鈥� Chris Archer became the first pitcher in more than 100 years to reach double-digits in strikeouts without a walk in three straight starts, leading the Tampa Bay Rays over the Seattle Mariners 3-1 Sunday.
Archer (7-4) fanned 11 with zero walks in seven innings. STATS found no other pitcher with such a string in its research dating to 1914.
Archer had five three-ball counts and gave up six hits, along with an unearned run. After striking out 12 against Seattle on May 27 and 15 vs. the Angels last Tuesday, he won his fourth straight decision overall.
Kevin Jepsen pitched the ninth for his fourth save of the season and third in the four-game series.
Mike Montgomery (0-1) pitched well against his former club, but got little run support.
Seattle fell a season-worst seven games below .500 and closed out a miserable 11-game homestand 2-9. Pitching was rarely the problem for the Mariners, it was a lack of hitting. They failed to score more than three runs in any game of the stay at Safeco Field, scoring a total of 21 runs.
Archer struck out at least one batter in every inning. Nelson Cruz and Brad Miller were the only two not to go down on strikes against the hard-throwing righty.
Mikie Mahtook hit a solo home run, Logan Forsythe had an RBI single and David DeJesus a sacrifice fly for the Rays.
Miller鈥檚 RBI single in the seventh was set up by shortstop Nick Franklin鈥檚 error.
Montgomery鈥檚 one walk led to the first run of the game. Jake Elmore walked in the top of the first, and scored from second base on Forsythe鈥檚 soft liner into centre field. Mahtook homered with one out in the seventh.
Seattle was poised to get to Archer in the fourth inning when Seth Smith led off with a double and Cruz added an infield single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Archer struck out Kyle Seager and Mark Trumbo on six pitches.
With Logan Morrison at the plate, Cruz attempted a delayed steal of second but was caught in a rundown and couldn鈥檛 stay in it long enough for Smith to score.
Seattle also had runners on first and second and no outs in the seventh but Miller鈥檚 RBI single was all it would get.
TRAINER鈥橲 ROOM:
Rays: 3B Evan Longoria was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game but came on as a pinch-runner in the eighth.
Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma threw a second bullpen session on Sunday as he continues to recover from back and side muscle injuries. He will have at least one more bullpen.
UP NEXT
Rays: Tampa Bay has an off day Monday before opening a homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. Nathan Kearns (3-2) will start the opener.
Mariners: Seattle has an off day on Monday before starting an eight-game road trip in Cleveland. Roenis Elias (2-3) starts the opener against the Indians.
听
19:16ET 07-06-15
听
