Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer broke his franchise's single-season strikeouts record during the third inning of Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees, fanning Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner for his 240th punchout of the season, per Sportsnet Stats.
Archer entered the game with 236 strikeouts, needing just four to break Scott Kazmir's prior franchise record of 239.
Though his record dropped to 12-12 in the losing effort, Archer did mange to strike out seven batters over six innings, giving up just two runs on four hits and four walks.
His breakout season hasn't quite been enough to keep the Rays in the playoff picture, but Archer does have a fringe case for the American League Cy Young Award, ranking fifth among the league's qualified starters in ERA (2.95), fourth in WHIP (1.07), fourth in innings (198.1) and second in strikeouts (243).
Per Fangraphs' measurement of the statistic, Archer ranks fourth among American League starters with 5.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), trailing only Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale (6.0 WAR), Toronto Blue Jays pitcher David Price (6.0 WAR) and Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel (5.5 WAR).
With pitchers on successful teams typically getting a boost in the voting, Keuchel and Price appear to be the favorites, although Keuchel's case took a big hit when he gave up nine runs to the Texas Rangers in Wednesday's 14-3 loss.
Archer could perhaps push his name back into the conversation, but he'd likely need to dominate in his final three starts, with Keuchel and Price (and maybe even Sale) falling apart over the same stretch.
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