Archer, Miller propel Rays past Padres
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Chris Archer pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and Brad Miller went 3-for-3 with his third home run in the past two games to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-0 win against the San Diego Padres at Tropicana Field on Wednesday.
Archer struck out nine and held the Padres to four hits while improving his mark to 7-16. Alex Colome recorded four outs to notch his 28th save of the season.
Archer threw 69 of his 106 pitches for strikes for Tampa Bay (50-69), which won its fourth game in a row. San Diego (50-70) has lost five straight and eight of its last 10.
The Padres got the first two runners on base in the top of the ninth inning when designated hitter Alex Dickerson ripped a single down the left-field line and left fielder Ryan Schimpf was hit on the foot by a fastball.
Colome, however, induced a ground ball from catcher Christian Bethancourt for a double play.
The Rays got all the runs they would need in the first inning when Miller blasted an offering from Padres starter Christian Friedrich (4-9) over the wall in right field with second baseman Nick Franklin on base.
Friedrich settled down from there and allowed six hits and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings.
NOTES: Rays 2B Logan Forsythe was scratched from Wednesday's game with back spasms. Forsythe missed Tuesday's game as well but said he expects to return soon. "It's a little better today. The pain is manageable," Forsythe said. "It's just lack of movement. I don't have much rotation. It just came out of nowhere. I've never had a back spasm or anything to do with my back in my career. So this is new to me." ... Padres RHP Tyson Ross threw live batting practice Wednesday morning. The 30-pitch outing was followed by more work in the bullpen. "The ball was really coming out well," Padres manager Andy Green said. "It was in the low-to-mid 90s. He was snapping some good sliders. ... Rays 3B Evan Longoria played in his 1,236 game Wednesday to set a new franchise record passing Carl Crawford.