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Posted at 11:00 AM EST. 

7:10 PM EST. Carlos Carrasco is the straight goods. He has a BB/K split of 8/46 over 48 innings and he also has a 1.86 ERA. This is now his fourth straight season in which he’s flashed elite skills across the board. Carrasco is as good as advertised. However, when we can get Tampa’s Chris Archer with a takeback like this, we’re not going to hesitate to grab it.

The total in this one is 7½, which is a puny number for an AL game in a hitter’s park. That tells us that one, two or three runs could win this one and it also tells us that it could be decided by the pens after both pitchers are long gone. That adds more appeal to the Rays. Furthermore, Cleveland’s offense has been completely stale for pretty much the entire year and especially over the last two weeks. Over the past 15 games, the Tribe are hitting .223 which is the fourth worst over that span in all of MLB. Cleveland’s 52 runs scored over the past 15 games is only better than San Fran’s 51 and Pittsburgh’s 50 over that same span. That would not be much of a concern if the Indians were playing in Seattle or some other pitcher’s parks but that’s not the case at all. Cleveland is coming off a slew of games against some weak pitching staffs from Kansas City, Minnesota, Seattle and Detroit. The games against the M’s were at Progressive Field. This struggling offense will now face one of the best pitcher’s in the game.

Chris Archer is also the straight goods with 59 K’s in 53 innings and a 3.04 ERA. Archer’s 16% swing and miss rate is three points higher than Carrasco’s and Archer also throws more strikes and has a strong first-pitch strike rate too. Plainly put, Archer is one of the best in the game with the skills to back it up and there is absolutely no justification for a starter of this caliber to be taking back a tag like the one being offered here.

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