ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays sustained another potentially big loss Saturday, as starter Chris Archer left the game in the third inning due to forearm/elbow tightness.
Then they celebrated a significant victory, a 4-0 win that extended their recent dominance over the rival Yankees.
Austin Meadows and Randy Arozarena hit home runs, and new catcher Francisco Mejia singled in two runs to lead the Rays offense in front of a reduced-capacity crowd of 6,270.
But the real story was the work of the already short-handed and reconstructed bullpen, with Andrew Kittredge, Jeffrey Springs, Ryan Thompson, Cody Reed and Chris Mazza holding the Yankees to just two hits the rest of the way.
Archer had just allowed his third hit of a solid first start — and second appearance — of the season, when he pumped his arm a few times and summoned Mejia to the mound. Manager Kevin Cash and head athletic trainer Joe Benge quickly followed, and Archer left the game.
The official diagnosis of “lateral forearm tightness” would seem to indicate the area of concern did not involve the ligament, which leads to major issues such as Tommy John surgery. Further evaluation and information is expected Sunday.
Cash said an IL stint is likely for Archer, but “we’re looking at it optimistically that maybe it’s just some tendinitis we have to manage.”
Archer seemed equally optimistic: “Fortunately it’s nothing serious, but there’s definitely some tightness in there I needed to get out. ... I’m really glad the bullpen stepped up.”
The Rays bullpen is missing four key pitchers, with Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks and Chaz Roe injured and Ryan Sherriff on the restricted list.
But they have insisted they were confident in who they had left, and that showed Saturday.
The victory assured the Rays of a fifth straight series win over the Yankees, going back into the 2019 season, and sixth if you count the 2020 American League Division Series. In regular-season play, the Rays have won 12 of the past 14 games.
Meadows got the Rays started with a first-inning homer, his third of the season. Arozarena, the breakout star of last postseason, hit his first of 2021 in the fourth inning. In between, Joey Wendle and Willy Adames opened the second with back-to-back singles, and Mejia, acquired from San Diego in the Blake Snell trade, singled off the glove of pitcher Domingo German to score two.
