Rangers Routed By Rays

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer mowed down batters and the Rays pounded out three home runs in a 10-1 rout of the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night at Globe Life Park.

Archer took the mound in the first inning with the lead and never looked back. The 25-year-old right-hander improved to 8-6 after striking out a career-high 12 batters and allowing four hits in seven innings.

“He had everything going on,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “He really controlled the evening. That was exactly what the doctor ordered.”

The Rays improved to 59-61 overall and 2-1 in the four-game series that ends Thursday. Tampa Bay is 5-4 on its current road trip and 4-2 against Texas this season.

The Rangers (47-73) are a season-low 26 games below .500 for the fourth time this season. Texas’ 73 losses are already the most since the club went 87-75 in 2009.

The Rangers also learned before the game that ace Yu Darvish, who was

Thursday’s scheduled starter, was headed to the disabled list. Texas has used a major league-high 34 pitchers this season, which included Wednesday’s debut of rookie left-hander Alex Claudio.

“For the most part, this isn’t something that’s normal,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “You deal with it. It’s been a necessity for us to make the moves we’ve had in our pitching staff and it we’ll continue to do that until there’s no more baseball to be played.”

Tampa Bay racked up 12 hits, with four starters driving in at least two runs each. Designated hitter Matt Joyce, second baseman Sean Rodriguez and left fielder Brandon Guyer each hit home runs off Texas starter Miles Mikolas.

“He couldn’t command the baseball,” Washington said. “He couldn’t put it where he wanted to. He left too many fastballs over the plate. He tried to throw his breaking ball, but wasn’t throwing it to his spot, it was down the middle.”

The Rays teed off on Mikolas (1-5) early. Joyce launched a two-out solo shot in the first inning into the upper deck in right field for the first home run of the series for either team.

Tampa Bay made it 5-0 in the second after a pair of two-run blasts to deep left. Rodriguez and Guyer each crushed offerings Mikolas left over the heart of the plate.

“In that situation I’m looking for a fastball,” Guyer said. “This season it feels like I haven’t really turned on a fastball for a home run. I’m just glad I could help the team get more ahead and get Archer a little more comfortable.”

The three homers matched Tampa Bay’s total from the first eight games of its road trip.

Archer took advantage of the early edge by working quickly and pounding the strike zone. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and enjoyed a stretch of six straight strikeouts.

“I didn’t even know that happened,” Archer said. “It’s just one of those situations where you get in a zone and you black out, and your hard work and practice take over, and you get the best possible result you can.”

Scoring chances were few and far between for the Rangers. After putting runners on first and third with two outs in the first inning, Texas didn’t get another runner into scoring position until center fielder Leonys Martin led off the fifth inning with a double.

Martin scored on left fielder Jim Adduci’s sac fly to cut the deficit to 5-1.

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