ST. PETERSBURG -- Chris Archer has long admired Corey Kluber.
Cleveland's ace took the loss Tuesday night in the Rays' 5-1 come-from-behind win, but not before showing how nasty he can be on the mound.
Archer watched the right-hander and observed that "he competes."
"He's not going to give in 3-2 with a base open to probably our best hitter," Archer said. "He's going to challenge him with [a] fastball and let the outcome be whatever it's going to be. But, yeah, I admire the way he throws, the way he competes, the crispness of his stuff. And it was pretty impressive what we were able to do last night in the eighth inning against him."
Kevin Kiermaier drew a one-out walk in the eighth that proved crucial to keeping the inning alive, setting up Logan Forsythe's two-run homer on a full count with two outs. 

When a reporter noted to Archer that it was interesting how one walk could manifest itself, Archer noted: "Crazy. I mean, yeah, if he doesn't walk that guy, it's probably not going to be a four-run inning."
Worth noting
• Manager Kevin Cash has still not named the starter the Rays will need for an upcoming spot start. However, the Rays' manager did spill the beans that the spot starter will be used on Saturday.
"That is for sure," Cash said. "Who it is, that is not for sure."
• Super Dog Max, the acclaimed therapy dog, visited the Rays at Tropicana Field on Wednesday to promote the team's Dog Day at the Rays on Sunday.
Max, a 6-year-old purebred red poodle, has appeared on "Good Morning America," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and local and national news broadcasts, reaching more than 138 million viewers around the world. The multi-talented dog joined the Rays on field during batting practice before Wednesday night's game against the Indians.