Miller's blast lifts Archer past Padres in shutout
ST. PETERSBURG -- After offensive outbursts the previous three games, it took only one swing to provide Tampa Bay with enough offense to win its fourth straight and complete a sweep over San Diego. Brad Miller hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Chris Archer made it stick
ST. PETERSBURG -- After offensive outbursts the previous three games, it took only one swing to provide Tampa Bay with enough offense to win its fourth straight and complete a sweep over San Diego.
Archer pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and picked up his seventh victory, striking out nine. It was the first time all season that he kept an opponent off the board for at least seven frames. Archer tipped his cap to a standing ovation as he walked off the mound.
• Dominant Archer finds groove, blanks Padres
"Nice sweep. That was outstanding," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Guys played really good. Nice interesting mix of games. Last night, we pour on a bunch of runs. Today, their pitcher did a tremendous job."
Padres starter
Rays closer
"I felt good today. It was also nice to have the guys back there making great plays," Archer said. "Any time I can give [
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
On cue: After hitting two home runs in Tuesday night's win over San Diego, Miller wasted no time doing what he does best on Wednesday. In the first inning, he crushed his 25th home run of the season to right field to make it 2-0. Miller had never hit more than 13 home runs in an season.
"I'm picking the right pitches to swing at," Miller said. "When you do, you can't miss them, because you might only get one in an at-bat. That's what I'm trying to do, hit the one pitch I get every at-bat."
Dead-left Schimpf: Tampa Bay's
Souza-Man: Right fielder
QUOTABLE
"No, I've never seen it happen. I've seen it maybe happen on TV in bloopers, or something. But hopefully I don't make that list." --
"There just can't be panic in the at-bats because these things just snowball, especially for the younger guys when they don't do so well. Chris Archer is tough. … If we chase down in the zone from time to time, that's the price of doing business against a guy like that. More or less, guys have to continue to grind out at-bats." -- Padres manager Andy Green, on the San Diego offense that has scored just six runs in its past five games
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WHAT'S NEXT
Padres: San Diego looks to win a series after dropping its past four. It opens a four-game set at home against Arizona after going 2-7 on a nine-game road trip.
Rays:
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.
Sam Blum is a reporter for MLB.com based in Tampa.
Greg Zeck is a contributor to MLB.com based in St. Petersburg and covered the Padres on Wednesday.