Major League Baseball
Tampa Bay 2, San Diego 0
When: 1:10 PM ET, Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Fieldin Culbreth, 1B - Manny Gonzalez, 2B - CB Bucknor, 3B - Jim Reynolds
Attendance: 10251

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Brad Miller provided the power again and Chris Archer proved that he still has the ability to pitch like a front-end starter.

Miller went 3-for-4 with his third home run in the past two games to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-0 win against the San Diego Padres at Tropicana Field on Wednesday.

Archer struck out nine and held the Padres to four hits while improving his mark to 7-16. Alex Colome recorded four outs to notch his 28th save of the season.

Archer threw 69 of his 106 pitches for strikes for Tampa Bay (50-69), which won its fourth game in a row. San Diego (50-70) has lost five straight and eight of its last 10.

"Nice sweep, that was outstanding," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Brad Miller comes up with the big home run. Really liked the way Archer pitched. He should feel pretty good about that outing."

The Padres got the first two runners on base in the top of the ninth inning when designated hitter Alex Dickerson ripped a single down the left-field line and left fielder Ryan Schimpf was hit on the foot by a fastball.

Colome, however, induced a ground ball from catcher Christian Bethancourt for a double play.

San Diego scored just three runs in the series and six in its past five games. Padres right fielder Wil Myers went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

"It has not been very good," Myers said. "I have been absolutely awful. I think I'm 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts in my last eight at-bats. It's something I've got to turn around, and I think if I can get some stuff going then the team will kind of follow."

The Rays got all the runs they would need in the first inning when Miller blasted an offering from Padres starter Christian Friedrich (4-9) over the wall in right field with second baseman Nick Franklin on base.

"I think I am picking the right pitches to swing at, and when you do, you can't miss them because you might only get one per at-bat," Miller said. "That's what I'm trying to do is hit the one pitch I get each at-bat and move it."

Friedrich settled down from there and allowed six hits and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings.

"I thought he was great," Padres manager Andy Green said. "Came out first inning, didn't feel like he had much command. He missed on that pitch to Miller and Miller made him pay. After he got past that pitch I thought he was outstanding."

The Padres could not get multiple runners on base against Archer until the top of the fifth inning when shortstop Alexei Ramirez and second baseman Nick Noonan had back-to-back singles with two outs. Archer, however, struck out center fielder Travis Jankowski to end the threat.

"I felt good today, but it was also nice to have the guys back there making great plays," Archer said. "It's nice that (the pitchers) have got in a little groove. You look at what we've done and we've been, not just quality, but Rays quality. Because a quality start is not what we consider quality. We hold ourselves to a higher standard here."

NOTES: Rays INF Nick Franklin was removed from the game after the first inning with a head contusion when CF Kevin Kiermaier struck him in the head with his bat while in the warm-up circle. Franklin was wearing a helmet. "I felt terrible," Kiermaier said. "It was a freak accident, but I'm glad he's ok." ... San Diego failed to have an extra-base hit in consecutive games for the second time this season. ... Rays 2B Logan Forsythe was scratched from Wednesday's game with back spasms. Forsythe missed Tuesday's game as well but said he expects to return soon. "It's a little better today. The pain is manageable," Forsythe said. "It's just lack of movement. I don't have much rotation. It just came out of nowhere. I've never had a back spasm or anything to do with my back in my career. So this is new to me." ... Padres RHP Tyson Ross threw live batting practice Wednesday morning. The 30-pitch outing was followed by more work in the bullpen. "The ball was really coming out well," Padres manager Andy Green said. "It was in the low-to-mid 90s. He was snapping some good sliders. ... Rays 3B Evan Longoria played in his 1,236 game Wednesday to set a new franchise record passing Carl Crawford.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
San Diego   Tampa Bay
Christian Friedrich Player Chris Archer
Loss W/L Win
6.2 IP 7.1
5 Strikeouts 9
6 Hits 4
2.70 ERA 0.00
Hitting
San Diego   Tampa Bay
Nick NoonanPlayer Brad Miller
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 2
0 HR 1
2 TB 6
.667 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
San Diego 5 0 5 .156 10 10 0 1 0 0
Tampa Bay 6 1 9 .200 10 7 2 1 1 0