Yankees Take Aim at Chris Archer

The New York Yankees have always been revered as one of, if not the greatest franchise in Major League Baseball history. However, you’ll have a hard time convincing Chris Archer of that.

Chris Archer has had excellent success against the New York Yankees.

Archer, the ace of the Tampa Bay Rays this season, had faced the Yankees on six prior occasions logging 42 IP. Only the Toronto Blue Jays have seen more innings against them. Entering tonight’s contest Archer had racked up an incredible 5-0 record, with a 1.96 ERA against the Evil Empire.

The biggest knock against Archer in his efforts against the Yankees is the absence of dominance. While the IP, ERA, and WHIP support the success; his strikeout numbers against the Yankees have been disappointing to say the least. A career K/9 rate of 8.2 is nowhere to be found against New York. Archer sports a pedestrian 5.4 K/9 when toeing the rubber against the division rival. That’s not the only red-flag stat. Opponents have only been able to total a .217 BABIP against him.

In these previous starts, Archer had put together great numbers. However, I expected the BABIP to level out at some point.

Enter Tuesday night’s game.

Archer gave up back-to-back singles to start his outing. This quickly got away from him in the inning. After walking Alex Rodriguez, base hits by Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran gave the Yankees two first-inning runs off Archer.

Then, in a bit of deja-vu, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brett Gardner singled once again in the second inning. The BABIP that I mentioned, not so great after just 11 batters. Eight balls in play and six of them went for hits. If not for Rene Rivera throwing both Ellsbury and Gardner out while trying to steal second base, the Rays starter could have been in for a much longer inning.

Archer settled in nicely after the second inning. He battled Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi over the next five innings. Archer’s night came to an end after retiring the last nine men he faced. Although his team was able to tie the score at two in the bottom of the seventh inning, getting him off the hook, Archer would not receive his sixth victory over the Yankees. The Rays were, however, able to complete the comeback victory after rallying for two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Aided by two Dellin Betances wild pitches.

Archer finished the night with a line of 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 8 K, 1 BB.

Although he no longer has an ERA under 2.00 against New York. His current 2.02 ERA is still his best mark against AL East opponents.

Follow Kris Dunn on Twitter @KrisDunnDV and on the Rocket Sports Radio Show @RocketSportsEnt.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H
NYY	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
TB	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	–	4	6	0