The Rays look to win consecutive games for the first time since June 14-15 when they take the field Tuesday night at Tropicana Field against a Red Sox club that has seen its rotation endure a rough stretch of starts.
"We're scuffling right now," Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "It's just the way it is. We're not pitching very well, but we're not playing very well overall. We need to snap out of it."
"You've got to have a short memory," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Come to the ballpark every day expecting to win. Positive attitude, positive outlook. There's been games over the course of this streak that we've had chances to win."
It will be Chris Archer against Rick Porcello on Tuesday. Archer recently became the first pitcher in baseball to reach 10 losses after coming into the season as the Rays' ace. The club record for losses before the All-Star break is 11.
Conversely, Porcello's eight wins are tied for seventh in the American League. He hasn't issued more than two walks in a start in 19 starts, the longest stretch for a Red Sox pitcher since Curt Schilling had a 33-game streak that ended in 2006.
Three things to know about the game
• David Ortiz leads all Tampa Bay opponents in doubles (65), extra-base hits (116), RBIs (167) and walks (157). He also hit his 500th career home run at Tropicana Field last season.
• There are 16 active players that are older than Rays manager Kevin Cash, who is 38. Two of them are on the Red Sox. Koji Uehara is 41 and Ortiz is 40.
• Archer has a 10.69 ERA in the first inning of games this season, and a 3.43 ERA in the innings after that.
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