"I competed," Archer said. "I did not shy away from contact purposefully at any point. I gave up a two-run homer, but outside of that the effort is there."
The right-hander has not won since Aug. 31 of last season at Baltimore. In the nine starts since, he has gone 0-6 with a 5.83 ERA. He had not gone more than five innings in five consecutive outings prior to pitching 5 1/3 innings on Thursday. Archer is now 0-3 with a 5.87 ERA this season.
"Obviously, there is room for growth, but the one thing I want to do, beyond not give up the two runs, is pitch a little deeper into the game," Archer said.