Game Notes: All Star Archer vs Guthrie

In his most recent outing against the New York Yankees on July 3, Chris Archer took the mound with his team entrenched in a five game losing streak. Pitching like an ace whose team was in desperate need of a win, Archer emptied the tank as he tossed a career-high 122 pitches. In 6 ⅔ innings of scoreless baseball, Archer surrendered only three hits while striking out eight batters.

Although the Yankees tied the game in the eighth inning and won the game on a Brian McCann walkoff home run in the 12th, Archer's performance continued a season long pattern of dominating on the road.

The recently nominated 2015 All Star has posted a microscopic earned run average of 0.77 in his first seven road starts of the season. Over the course of 46.2 innings, Archer has only surrendered four earned runs and has stuck out 57 batters.

In tonight's game, Archer will take the mound in the series finale at Kauffman Stadium. The Kansas City Royals will send Jeremy Guthrie to the mound as they look to complete a four game sweep of the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

<!-- BEGIN WIDGET --><div class="pane sports_data_widget lineup clearfix"><h3>Today's Lineups</h3><div class="lineup"><table cellspacing="0" class="zebra"><thead><tr><th align="left">TAMPA BAY RAYS</th><th align="left">KANSAS CITY ROYALS</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td class="td-last td-name">John Jaso - DH</td><td class="td-first td-name">Alcides Escobar - SS</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Asdrubal Cabrera - SS</td><td class="td-first td-name">Alex Gordon - LF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Evan Longoria - 3B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Lorenzo Cain - CF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">James Loney - 1B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Eric Hosmer - 1B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Logan Forsythe - 2B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Kendrys Morales - DH</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">David DeJesus - LF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Salvador Perez - C</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Brandon Guyer - RF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Omar Infante - 2B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Kevin Kiermaier - CF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Alex Rios - RF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Rene Rivera - C</td><td class="td-first td-name">Cheslor Cuthbert - 3B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name"></td><td class="td-first td-name"></td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Chris Archer - RHP</td><td class="td-first td-name">Jeremy Guthrie - RHP</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><!-- END WIDGET -->

Jeremy Guthrie Scouting Report

With a salary of $9 million and a WAR of 0.2, Jeremy Guthrie has been of little value to the Royals n his first 16 starts of the 2015 season. Over the course of 89.2 innings, the 36-year-old right hander has posted a 5.42 ERA and 4.71 FIP.

Here's a look at his arsenal in 2015:

Other Rays' Notes

--In case you missed it:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Before he takes the mound tonight, <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisArcher42">@ChrisArcher42</a>&#39;s All-Star first half. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaysUp?src=hash">#RaysUp</a> &#10;&#10;WATCH: <a href="http://t.co/Vq0gLL15UJ">http://t.co/Vq0gLL15UJ</a> <a href="http://t.co/fmUYMvIJbU">pic.twitter.com/fmUYMvIJbU</a></p>&mdash; Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/RaysBaseball/status/618799875740688384">July 8, 2015</a></blockquote>

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--Jake Odorizzi will make his return from the disabled list this Saturday.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rays?src=hash">#Rays</a> Cash makes it official that Odorizzi comes off DL and starts Saturday. Moore will start Sunday.</p>&mdash; Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) <a href="https://twitter.com/TBTimes_Rays/status/618905085578326017">July 8, 2015</a></blockquote>

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--Over/under 2,500 extra shirts?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rays?src=hash">#Rays</a> will give away All-Star T-shirts featuring Archer and Boxberger to 1st 10,000 fans at Saturday&#39;s game</p>&mdash; Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) <a href="https://twitter.com/TBTimes_Rays/status/618869905513938944">July 8, 2015</a></blockquote>

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