Souza’s homer in 9th lifts Rays over Brewers

big knock,” Souza said. “But it was great to come through.”

Most of the game was a pitchers' duel between Archer and Jimmy Nelson of the Brewers, who are having their own problems producing runs. The Brewers have scored only 20 runs in their last nine games, five of which they won.

“Our pitching staff is doing a great job. You can't expect them to be absolutely perfect,” said Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell. “We've got to find a way to put some runs on the board and give them a little more room for error.”

The loss cost the Brewers a chance to move into first place in the NL Central. They started the day a halfgame behind the Chicago Cubs.

Tommy Hunter (1-2) got the win for the Rays, who remained 5 game behind first-place Boston in the AL East and in the middle of a big pack of wild-card hopefuls.

“That's a pretty big win for us,” Hunter said. “Hopefully it's a catalyst and we can get on a roll.”

Barnes (3-3) threw only two pitches in relief of Nelson, who gave up one run on six hits while striking out nine in eight innings.

The Rays ended a string of 21 scoreless innings in the second, taking a 1-0 lead after loading the bases with none out. Logan Morrison, who had led off the inning with a single, scored when Wilson Ramos hit into a double play.

The Brewers tied it in the sixth on Orlando Arcia's 11th home run, the only run off Archer. It was the second homer and fourth extrabase hit of the series for Arcia, who is hitting .322 with eight homers in his last 70 games.