Old face, new role: Archer to relieve in return

When Chris Archer returned to Tampa Bay as a free agent, he said one of the first things he told general manager Erik Neander was that he’s willing to work in whatever role is best for the team. Most of the time, that will mean being a starting pitcher like he’s always been. That could mean pitching after an opener, too.

When Archer makes his official return to the Rays on Saturday, it’ll mean pitching out of the bullpen after Rich Hill, another veteran starter brought on board in the offseason. Hill is scheduled to start against the Marlins at loanDepot park on Saturday night (6:10 ET, live on MLB.TV), and Archer is also slated to pitch at some point in the game.

The two veterans will be separated to pitch on different days the next time through the rotation, but this arrangement made sense for both given the Rays’ early schedule and their mindfulness regarding pitchers’ workloads this season. Tampa Bay has an off-day on Sunday and another one Thursday, so there wasn’t a great need to begin the season with a traditional five-man rotation.

Instead, Hill and Archer can ease into the season with each pitching a handful of innings in a sort of tandem start -- one that might be quite effective considering the different challenges each presents on the mound.

“I think that's the goal for this first game, to have that contrast, allow us to not try to carry too much of a load right out of the gate, and I’m looking forward to it,” Archer said. “I'm looking forward to following him and, whenever my number's called, going in there and balling out.”

Manager Kevin Cash said he will speak with pitching coach Kyle Snyder to get a sense of what kind of usage Hill and Archer are prepared for and who could bounce back to a higher pitch count when they’re split up next time out. The Rays understand the value of throwing different looks at opposing hitters, and they don’t get much different than Hill and Archer. Hill’s a lefty who relies on his curveball and a fastball that’s averaged 89-90 mph the last few years, while Archer throws in the mid-90s with a slider as his primary breaking ball.

“It's just going out and executing,” Hill said. “I think that the complementing part will be great, but again, it's going out there and getting ready to execute. That's it. That's really the biggest thing for myself, for Chris, for everybody.”

Archer hasn’t pitched out of the bullpen in a regular-season game since Sept. 29, 2012, but he got a sense of what it takes to prepare in Spring Training. On March 19, Hill worked 2 2/3 innings against the Red Sox, then Archer took over in the fourth and worked two clean innings with two strikeouts.

Archer said he didn’t feel like he was physically quite ready in that outing, despite the results. So, don’t be surprised if you see Archer moving around the bullpen throughout the game or playing long toss in the outfield between innings.

Archer said he’ll be so focused on his preparation, in fact, that the meaning of getting back on the mound in a Rays uniform for the first time since 2018 might not even sink in until after he’s done pitching.

“There’s going to be extra nostalgia, but it's probably going to be more from a standpoint of reflection because in the moment I'm going to have a job to do. And it's a job that is a little foreign, so I'm going to have to have hyper-focus on that,” Archer said. “I'm glad that we got all this out of the way in spring. I've already thrown several games. I've already come out of the bullpen. So, at this point, I’ve just got to go out there and execute, and I'm really, really looking forward to doing that in the baby blue.”

Around the horn

• Cash previously said the Rays intended to get all their position players involved right away, and that proved to be true on Friday as he shuffled the bottom half of the lineup. Joey Wendle got the start at shortstop, Manuel Margot in center field and Francisco Mejía behind the plate while Willy Adames, Kevin Kiermaier and Mike Zunino did not start. The top five hitters remained the same: Yoshi Tsutsugo, Austin Meadows, Randy Arozarena, Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz.

• Thursday was the 37th 1-0 win in club history, but just the second time in franchise history the Rays pitched a shutout on Opening Day, joining their 7-0 win against the Twins in 2000. Since at least 1901, there have been 44 1-0 shutouts on Opening Day, and the Rays became the first American League club to win a 1-0 game as the visiting team on Opening Day since the 1946 Indians.

• Glasnow’s dominant Opening Day outing was his ninth scoreless start since joining the Rays. He had none before he was traded to Tampa Bay.

• On Thursday, Austin Meadows became the fourth Rays player with multiple Opening Day homers, joining Evan Longoria (four), Gerald Williams and Ben Zobrist (both two). It was the ninth time since at least 1901 that a solo home run accounted for the only run of an Opening Day game and just the third time that was true for an AL team.