Archer gives up 2 HRs to Donaldson: 'Haven't seen a hitter that hot in a while'

During Thursday's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tampa Bay Rays sent their ace Chris Archer to the mound. Standing in his way was one of the hottest hitters in baseball, Josh Donaldson.

Archer served up a pair of solo home runs to the Blue Jays' star third baseman - one in the first inning and one in the fifth.

"I didn't execute a couple of pitches and (Donaldson) took advantage," the 28-year-old Archer told Ian Harrison of the Associated Press. "We haven't seen a hitter that hot in a while."

Over the past five games, Donaldson has five dingers and ranks among the top five hitters in baseball over the past two weeks, according to FanGraphs. Coming into Thursday's game, Donaldson was posting an otherworldly .383/.516/.894 slash line in August.

On July 18, the 2015 American League MVP made the decision to ditch the protective helmet flap he'd been wearing all season. In 41 games with the helmet flap, Donaldson sported a .793 OPS. Since then, though, the slugger has put up a 1.064 OPS.

Heading into Thursday's finale, Archer was putting together yet another great season with a 3.84 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and a career-high 29.5 percent strikeout rate over 159 1/3 innings, but even he was powerless to slow down Donaldson.