Tampa Bay 11, Colorado 3
When: 3:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
Temperature:
91°
Umpires:
Home -
Paul Emmel, 1B -
Bob Davidson, 2B -
Dan Iassogna, 3B -
Clint Fagan
Attendance:
31456
By The Sports Xchange
DENVER -- It took more than a month, but the Tampa Bay Rays were finally able to celebrate the modest achievement of back-to-back victories Wednesday.
The Rays pounded the Colorado Rockies 11-3 in the rubber game of a three-game series at Coors Field.
The win was just the third in 12 games and fifth in 31 for the Rays, who hadn't won consecutive games since June 14-15. Tampa Bay (37-57) also won its first series since taking two of three June 24-27 against Boston and first road series since winning two of three June 6-8 at Arizona.
Chris Archer (5-13) broke a six-game losing streak that was one shy of his career high and won for the first time since June 6.
While throwing 105 pitches in six innings in his Coors Field debut, Archer allowed four hits and two runs with two walks and 11 strikeouts, one shy of his season high. Archer struck out the final five and eight of the final 10 batters he faced.
"I felt like I had good stuff and we put some runs on the board," Archer said. "I was able to breathe -- just throw the ball over the plate."
The Rays beat the Rockies 10-1 on Tuesday and outscored them 25-11 in the series, which left Colorado 3-3 since the All-Star break and a season-high-tying eight games below .500. The Rockies (43-51) are 21-24 at Coors Field and 1-2 on a homestand that began against the Rays and concludes with a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves.
"We have to make things better," Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez said. "We have to play better. We have to win at home. We are doing everything the opposite way. Pitchers aren't getting the job done, and the hitters aren't scoring a lot of runs. It is not a good mix."
A five-run fourth inning gave the Rays a 9-2 lead and drove Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa from the game. The Rays, who scored five runs in the third inning Wednesday, hit that mark in an inning in consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 19-20, 2012.
Tim Beckham, who went 5-for-5, drove in two runs, as did Steven Souza Jr. and Steve Pearce.
De La Rosa (6-7) allowed season highs in runs (nine) and hits (11) and tied his season high in earned runs allowed (seven) while throwing 91 pitches in four innings.
He walked Archer and gave up a single to Logan Forsythe to start the fourth-inning uprising when the Rays batted around. With two outs, Pearce doubled home a run. A second run scored on a wild pitch, and Souza's single plated a third run.
Shortstop Trevor Story roamed far to his right to snare Beckham's grounder, but he threw off balance and past second base, allowing the final two runs of the inning to score.
De La Rosa entered the game 4-2 with a 2.68 ERA in six starts since returning to the rotation June 14 but struggled against the Rays.
"My pitch selection was really, really bad," De La Rosa said. "We are in the big leagues, and when you make mistakes, that's when they hit you the hardest. Everything was bad. I threw pitches where I don't have to throw them."
Evan Longoria, who doubled home a run in the first, doubled in the third, putting runners at second and third with one out. Pearce's groundout scored a run, and two more scored to give the Rays a 4-2 lead on three successive singles by Souza, Corey Dickerson, who had three hits, and Beckham.
Archer was able to rebound from a bizarre second inning in which Colorado scored twice to go ahead 2-1. Left fielder Dickerson took a bad route on Daniel Descalso's liner with one out, resulting in a double, and Descalso made it to third when center fielder Brandon Guyer, backing up Dickerson, had trouble picking the ball up. After Mark Reynolds walked, Tony Wolters put down a safety squeeze bunt that Archer fielded. The pitcher made a backhanded flip home but not in time to get Descalso.
Archer's wild pitch put runners at second and third, and a walk to De La Rosa to load the bases. Charlie Blackmon hit a sacrifice fly to right that was ruled as such only after a painstaking replay review that took 6 minutes, 28 seconds and resulted in a potential 9-2 double play being overturned.
After that inning, Archer quickly rebounded and retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced.
"There was some crazy stuff that happened there," Archer said, referring to the second inning. "I did kind of lose my feel, but I'm happy that we had a great offensive day and I was able to get it together and get through six innings."
NOTES: Rockies hitting coach Blake Doyle was ejected by plate umpire Paul Emmel in the top of the second inning. ... Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon rolled a single up the middle in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to a career-high tying 12 games. ... Rockies RHP Justin Miller (left oblique strain) is scheduled to throw his second bullpen session Thursday and face hitters in live batting practice Saturday. ... Rays CF Kevin Kiermaier was given a planned day off. He had played five straight games after missing eight weeks due to a broken left hand. ... The first five hitters in the Rays' lineup Tuesday each recorded at least two hits, scored a run, had an extra-base hit and drove in a run for the first time in the team's 18-year history.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay |
|
Colorado |
Chris Archer
|
Player |
Jorge De La Rosa |
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
6.0 |
IP |
4.0 |
11 |
Strikeouts |
1 |
4 |
Hits |
11 |
3.00 |
ERA |
15.75 |
Hitting
Tampa Bay |
|
Colorado |
Tim Beckham | Player |
Tony Wolters
|
5 |
Hits |
2 |
2 |
RBI |
1 |
0 |
HR |
0 |
6 |
TB |
2 |
1.000 |
Avg |
.667 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Tampa Bay
|
16 |
0 |
22 |
.381 |
21 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
Colorado
|
8 |
0 |
9 |
.235 |
17 |
15 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |