Brandon Lowe continues to mash in Toronto and leads Rays to win with pivotal blast
The Tampa Bay Rays entered Tuesday night’s affair following a series split against the New York Yankees. Monday’s loss once again dropped the club to the .500 mark, a spot they have become all too familiar with over the last few weeks.
Nonetheless, the Rays opened a three game set against the last-place Toronto Blue Jays looking to once again get over .500, and hopefully stay there. With Ryan Pepiot on the IL with a knee infection, Tyler Alexander was recalled to work a bulk of the innings behind Shawn Armstrong, who had struggled mightily of late.
If you assumed this game would be out of reach for the Rays by the middle innings, nobody would have second guessed you, but... baseball!
Armstrong and Alexander combined for five scoreless innings and struck out eight Toronto hitters in the process. Armstrong lowered his season ERA to 5.64 with a pair of scoreless frames, while Alexander’s trio of scoreless innings lowered his ERA to 5.88.
Five innings was just enough time for the Rays to establish a lead they would hold for the remainder of the night. In the top of the second inning, Randy walked, stole second, and eventually scored on a Josh Lowe RBI-single to right. The 1-0 lead would hold until the Rays added on in the fifth.
They did threaten to score again in the third, but their efforts were thwarted by Daulton Varsho as he took away a two-RBI double away from Brandon Lowe with a leaping catch. They would load the bases via free passes, but came away empty-handed.
In the fifth inning, Brandon Lowe would not be denied and this time blasted one right field. Richie Palacios had walked to lead off the inning and scored on the blast. The two-run homer gave the Rays a 3-0 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Rays went to the pen and called on Manuel Rodriguez to hold Jays offense scoreless. Vlad Jr and Justin Turner promptly hit back to back bombs off the right-hander, to cut the Jays’ deficit to just a run, but Rodrigues quickly gathered himself and retired the next three batters.
The Rays would get a run back in the following half inning thanks to a leadoff walk to Taylor Walls. Following the walk to the Rays shortstop, Palacios singled, giving the Rays runners on the corners. Paredes would hit into a double play, but the run scored and gave the Rays a 4-2 lead.
That score would hold and be the final score. Kelly, Adam, and Fairbanks finished the game for the Rays, tossing three scoreless innings. Fairbanks picked up the save, his 19th of the year. Alexander earned the win, his third of the year.
Jays starter, Jose Berrios, only lasted 4.2 innings and took the loss. He surrendered three runs, three hits, walked six, and struck out five.
The Rays will send Eflin to the bump tomorrow with a chance to win another series and improve their record to a seemingly impossible two games over .500, a mark they haven’t seen since May 19th.
