The Rays split the two-game set at Wrigley Field.
Chris Archer and Blake Snell took the mound for the Rays during their most recent inter-league battle with the Chicago Cubs. The Tuesday-Wednesday series marks the second time the Rays pitching staff has been required to step into the batters-box.
And Archer picked up his first career hit on Tuesday.
.@ChrisArcher22 picks up his first career hit and makes it count.#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/zyR5LVYH71
— Vote #GoLoMo (@RaysBaseball) July 4, 2017
Tuesday: Rays 6 — Cubs 5
Despite being out-hit by the defending World Series champs, the Rays held off a late charge to defeat the Cubs.
Steven Souza Jr and Tim Beckham collected two hits and two RBIs each. Beckham’s fourth-inning home run was his 11th (T-3rd; Elvis Andrus) of the season. It was the first dinger for the now-second baseman since the team acquired Adeiny Hechavarria.
Making his second appearance since being activated from the DL, Brad Boxberger pitched a scoreless seventh inning. The Rays are hopeful he can be the missing piece that the bullpen needs. Boxberger has four strikeouts in two innings pitched this season.
Entering with a three-run lead, closer Alex Colome struggled to find the strike zone. The Cubs drew two walks off Colome and crossed the plate twice in the inning. He threw 38 pitches to get there but, ultimately, Colome converted his 22nd save of the season.
Archer (8H-3ER-8K) picked up his seventh win of the season.
Wednesday: Cubs 7 — Rays 3
Opposite Snell, John Lackey took the hill for the Cubs. The Rays were able to put up single runs in the first, third, and sixth inning. Looking to pick up his first victory of the season, Snell gave way to Erasmo Ramirez in the bottom-of-the-sixth. The south-siders equalled the Rays’ run total when pinch-hitter Jon Jay belted his second home run of the season.
Just like that, Snell’s hopes of picking up his first victory of the season were gone.
Jay finished the day with three RBI, while left fielder Ian Happ and first baseman Anthony Rizzo drove in two-each. The triumvirate were responsible for all of the Cubs’ runs on the afternoon.
Without a victory to show for his efforts, Snell had his best outing of the season. He threw five scoreless, allowing four hits, and striking out five. As per usual with Snell this season, walks were his biggest problem. He allowed four free-passes on the day.
Not Missing Kiermaier
The biggest bright-spot for Tampa Bay was Mallex Smith. As a team, the Rays totaled eight hits – Smith had four of them. They crossed the plate three times – it was Smith every time.
It’s the first four-hit game of his career, and the centerfielder is now batting .333 on the season.
A career-high four hits for the #MallexEffect.
But we’re trailing in the eighth. pic.twitter.com/PlkUdhkL7h
— Vote #GoLoMo (@RaysBaseball) July 5, 2017
There’s no replacing a defensive superstar like Kevin Kiermaier but the Mallex-effect has been in full-force since being thrust into full-time duties.
In exactly half-as-many games (62 vs 31), and less than half the number of at-bats (233 vs 108), Smith has significantly better offensive production. He has the same number of stolen bases (10) and scored only nine-fewer runs. All while posting a batting average 68 points higher than Kiermaier.
Due Up
The Rays host the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night. Jacob Faria (3-0; 2.23) will make his sixth career start in the first-of-four.
