(SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Archer will try to shake off a pair of rough outings on Tuesday night when the Tampa Bay Rays return home to begin a three- game series with the Baltimore Orioles.
Archer has allowed nine runs in 10 2/3 innings over consecutive no-decisions since beating the New York Yankees on April 19 with 6 2/3 frames of one-run ball.
The right-hander was rolling in Boston on Thursday, hurling four scoreless innings before struggling in the fifth frame, when he allowed five runs and recorded just two outs. He yielded three hits and walked a career high-tying five batters in total, though the Rays managed to hold on for a 6-5 win.
Archer is 2-1 with a 4.84 earned run average on the season and could benefit from a return to Tropicana Field. He has not lost at home since Aug. 13, going 4-0 in seven starts since.
The 25-year-old is 1-2 with a 5.85 earned run average in four career meetings, including three starts, with the Orioles, who hit him hard in a 7-1 win back on April 14. Archer was charged with seven runs on 12 hits and a walk in five innings of a loss.
Baltimore won both games of that weather-shortened set at home after losing 13 of 19 to the Rays a season ago. Tampa Bay went 7-3 at home versus the O's in 2013.
The Orioles turn to Chris Tillman tonight and he got a no-decision in his last trip to the mound on Thursday. The righty yielded three runs on six hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings versus Pittsburgh, and is 3-1 on the year with a 3.68 ERA.
It marked the second straight outing that Tillman struggled as he gave up seven runs and three homers in a 10-8 win at Toronto on April 23.
The 26-year-old is 2-6 lifetime versus the Rays with a 4.90 ERA.
Baltimore was held to just six runs in its weekend three-game set with the Minnesota Twins, losing the final two contests. The Orioles dropped Sunday's rubber match 5-2 as Miguel Gonzalez allowed three runs while lasting just 4 2/3 innings.
Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer for Baltimore, which will try to avoid losing three straight for the first time since a four-game drought from April 2-5.
"It can go both ways," Baltimore's Nick Markakis told his club's website. "When we are hitting the ball and scoring runs and not pitching well, it looks bad. And when we are not scoring runs, it looks bad. That's part of being a team and getting on the same page and doing things the right way.
"Teams are going to go through their struggles. Everybody is going to do it. I wouldn't say we are struggling right now, we just didn't have a series like we wanted to. And we just got to put it past us."
The Rays appear to have gotten past some recent struggles as they won four of the final five contests of a 10-game road trip to split the trek. That includes taking the rubber match of a three-game set with the New York Yankees by a 5-1 score on Sunday.
Wil Myers hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer and added an RBI double, while Desmond Jennings had three hits to key the win.
Erik Bedard allowed one run over six innings to get his first victory as a starter since June 26.
"I didn't realize how long it's been, but yeah, it's nice," he said.
Jennings big day capped a solid run that earned him AL Player of the Week honors on Monday. He hit .355 with three homers, three RBI and eight runs scored while also swiping three bases.
[SportsNetwork.com]
