New York, NY – Tampa Bay hurler Chris Archer took home a pair of the American League awards for July, claiming both Pitcher and Rookie of the Month honors following an outstanding five-start stretch.
Archer racked up four wins and a no-decision while posting a stellar 0.73 earned run average in July, helping the Rays put together a 21-5 mark for the month. The young right-hander also registered a pair of shutouts during that time frame, limiting Houston to five hits while striking out eight in a 5-0 win on July 14 and capping his month with a two-hit gem to defeat the New York Yankees on July 27.
The 24-year-old, whose 0.73 ERA was the fourth-lowest for a rookie since 1920, became just the sixth player to take home both Player or Pitcher and Rookie of the Month awards in the same month since the latter was introduced in 2001. Archer joins Dontrelle Willis (Florida, June 2003), Ryan Braun (Milwaukee, July 2007), Jeremy Hellickson (Tampa Bay, May 2011), Mike Trout (Angels, July 2012) and Yasiel Puig (Dodgers, June 2013) as ones to accomplish the feat.
Archer's Tampa teammates, David Price and Matt Moore, were also considered for the Pitcher of the Month award along with the Yankees' Hiroki Kuroda, Kansas City's Greg Holland and the Angels' Jered Weaver.
Others receiving votes for Rookie of the Month included Tampa Bay's Wil Myers and Kansas City's David Lough.
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