ATLANTA — Chris Archer's search for answers led him back to how his pitching career started. Archer's father, Ron, taught him at 10 years old to pitch out of the stretch, rather than a windup, before throwing to the plate.
After calling his fifth start with the Pirates "inexcusable," he chose to again heed that advice in his next bullpen. Each of his dozen pitches from the stretch was more crisp than those from a windup, and Archer, at 29 years old, used that same basic delivery to craft his finest outing in months.
"My dad taught me instead of doing that extra stuff, you have a good arm, you’re an athlete: lift your leg and go," he said Saturday night after carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the Pirates' 5-3 loss to the Braves at SunTrust Park. Reliever Keone Kela blew a two-run lead with four runs in the eighth, but Archer showed why he was the top prize of the non-waiver trade deadline.
The right-hander struck out five with only one walk, and his only earned run came after the only two hits against him. It was the first time he's pitched through the sixth inning in a Pirates uniform.
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