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The Rays won their first extra inning contest in almost a year last night as their pitching dismantled the Boston offense, retiring the final 23 batters in a row en route to a 1-0, allowing just a single hit in the third. The game featured stellar performances from Drew Smyly, Erasmo Ramriez, and Xavier Cedeno while Kevin Kiermaier provided the heroics with a go ahead homer in the tenth inning.
Tonight, the Rays will hopes to build off that and take the series victory, before playing an afternoon game on Thursday.
Today's Starting Pitchers:
| W | L | ERA | FIP | K% | BB% | AVG | HR | GS | IP | fWAR | |
| Chris Archer | 12 | 13 | 3.23 | 2.90 | 29.0% | 7.6% | .219 | 19 | 34 | 212 | 5.3 |
| Rick Porcello | 9 | 15 | 4.92 | 4.13 | 20.2% | 5.2% | .284 | 25 | 28 | 172 | 1.6 |
Chris Archer was incredible in 2015, and yes he showed signs of wear as the season came to a conclusion, but he looked primed for a run at the Cy Young award in 2016. However, his first three starts this year have been disastrous as he's barely averaged over five innings a start while giving up a total of 10 earned runs over 15 innings pitched. His last time out was on Thursday against Cleveland where he picked up his third loss of the season as he allowed three runs on seven hits over five and third innings pitched.
Scouting Report:
Porcello has had a decent start to the 2016 season, as he has come away with victories in each of his two starts thus far. So far, both of his starts have come against Toronto and he's given up a total of seven runs in just over 12 innings pitched on nine hits -- just two his last time out -- while the long ball has plagued him as he has already given up four homers.
His arsenal:
| PITCH | VELOCITY | FREQUENCY | vs LHB | vs RHB |
| Fastball | Low 90's |
28.4% vs LHB *** 24.6% vs RHB |
Tends to pitch up in the zone | Likes to stay up and away from the opposing hitter |
| Sinker | Low 90's |
33.9% vs LHB *** 45.9% vs RHB |
Low and away | Low and in |
| Cutter | Mid 80's |
6.3% vs LHB *** 11.5% vs RHB |
Anywhere inside, usually off the plate | Low and away from the zone |
| Slider | Mid 80's |
0.5% vs LHB *** 2.9% vs RHB |
Rarely throws | Away from the zone |
| Change | Low 80's |
15.7% vs LHB *** 2.9% vs RHB |
Low, or below the zone | Sporadic |
| Curveball | High 70's |
15.2% vs LHB *** 12.2% vs RHB |
Drops it low and in | Low and away from the zone |
His splits:
| 2015 | TBF | wOBA | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | K% | BB% |
| vs LHB | 406 | .351 | .285 | .334 | .481 | 16 | 20.2% | 5.4% |
| vs RHB | 331 | .327 | .284 | .329 | .422 | 9 | 20.2% | 4.8% |
| HOME | 352 | .321 | .276 | .322 | .412 | 10 | 21.3% | 4.6% |
| AWAY | 385 | .358 | .293 | .341 | .494 | 15 | 19.2% | 5.7% |
Today's starting lineups
| TAMPA BAY RAYS | BOSTON RED SOX |
| Logan Forsythe - 2B | Mookie Betts - RF |
| Logan Morrison - 1B | Dustin Pedroia - 2B |
| Evan Longoria - 3B | Xander Bogaerts - SS |
| Corey Dickerson - DH | David Ortiz - DH |
| Desmond Jennings - LF | Hanley Ramirez - 1B |
| Brad Miller - SS | Travis Shaw - 3B |
| Steven Souza - RF | Brock Holt - LF |
| Kevin Kiermaier - CF | Christian Vazquez - C |
| Hank Conger - C | Jackie Bradley - CF |
| Chris Archer - RHP | Rick Porcello - RHP |