No, Chris Archer didn’t have a good season.
Just a good finish.
Archer, the Rays’ pitcher, avoided his 20th loss of the year Thursday night in a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Archer would have been the first pitcher since 2003 (Detroit’s Mike Mayroth) to lose 20.
Instead of becoming a trivia answer for years (who was the last pitcher to lose 20?), Archer instead will finish 9-19. He pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs. The Rays had a comfortable 5-1 lead until Archer surrended a two-run homer to Carlos Sanchez.
Kevin Kiermaier had three hits for the Rays. Mikie Mahtook, Alexei Ramirez and Curt Casali all had two for Archer, who had lacked hefty support all year. In his 19 losses this season, Archer has allowed only 26 runs.
Archer also passed 200 innings pitched for the second straight year.
Rays’ manager Kevin Cash called Archer’s performance “outstanding.” Since the all-star game, Archer had a record of 5-7.
The Rays had lost nine of their previous 10 games.
Alex Colome made his 36th save.
The Rays now conclude their season with three games against the Rangers. Matt Andriese pitches for Tampa Bay tonight against Yu Darvish.
