Game No. 64 Preview: Houston Astros at Tampa Bay Rays

Houston Astros (29-34) at Tampa Bay Rays (28-31), June 11, 2016, 3:10 PM CT

TV: Root Sports Southwest
Online: MLB.TV
Radio: KBME SportsTalk 790 AM, La Nueva 94.1 FM (En Español) 
Tampa Bay Rays SB Nation Blog: D-Rays Bay

Pitching Matchup

RHP Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.00 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) vs. RHP Chris Archer (4-7, 4.73 ERA, 1.51 WHIP)

Preview

The good times for the Houston Astros has gone away quickly. After a hot finish to May and the start of June, the Astros have lost four of their last five games. Now the team must turn to Mike Fiers to help stop the slide.

Fier hasn't been the kind of pitcher that you would call a stopper. Fiers has been up and down over his last three starts. He has pitched 3 2/3 innings in one start, allowed just one run over six in the next and gave up four over 5 1/3 in his most recent start.

Fiers is making his first career at Tropicana Field and the Rays period. Current Rays are batting .333 (4-for-12) against Fiers with a .400 BABIP, 1.39 FIP, 16.7 K%, and 0.00 BB%.

Chris Archer has picked up a solid number of innings for the Rays over his last three starts, 20 in total, but Archer has lost all three games. But he has given up seven runs over his last 12 innings for Tampa bay.

Like Dallas Keuchel, Archer has struggled all season. He was 1-4 with a 5.01 ERA in Apil, 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA in May, and 1-1 with 5.25 ERA thus far in June.

Current Astros are batting .185 (12x65) against Archer with a .273 BABIP, 1.34 FIP, 31.0 K%, and 5.6 BB%.

***

Editor's Note: New players win cash in their first league or get their entry fee refunded! Offered in partnership with FanDuel.