ST. PETERSBURG — Early in RHP Chris Archer’s first big-league spring training with the Rays, RHP James Shields took him aside and told him what was expected from the members of the rotation. The No. 1 benchmark: 200 innings a season.
With five outs tonight against the Red Sox, Archer would reach 200 innings for the first time in his career. He’s already surpassed his career high of 194 set last year.
Archer, who pitched 142 innings in the minors in 2010 before being traded to the Rays, said he had a hard time conceiving what 200 innings meant when he and Shields talked in the spring of 2011.