Once again, Lowe powers the Rays to victory

by Gary Shelton on August 19, 2020

in general

Brandon Lowe hit yet another home run./JEFFREY S. KING

Tuesday, 4 a.m.

This time, the bomber was only visiting the Bronx.

This time, just like last time, Brandon Lowe brought his fireworks show to Yankee Stadium.

Lowe cranked his fifth home run in six games Tuesday night to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-3 victory over New York at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time all season (in 11 games) the Yankees haven't won at home.

The Rays pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees in the AL East.





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"The man, the myth," is how teammate Austin Meadows described Lowe.

So what does pitcher Blake Snell see?

“What aren’t you seeing from Brandon Lowe?" Snell said. "That man is going crazy. It’s a lot of fun to watch. He’s on right now, swinging at the right pitches and doing damage. What an amazing talent he is. It’s amazing to see what he’s been able to do this year."

Meadows, who also homered, added this: "It’s impressive to watch. He’s always out there and grinding,. putting together good at-bats. He hits it hard every time. He’s having an incredible year. The sky is the limit for him."

Lowe, this week's American League Player of the Week, has been on fire. Over his last seven games, Lowe is batting .500 with 11 runs and 13 RBI. His three-run homer in the fourth inning gave the Rays a 4-0 lead, and they won behind Blake Snell and four relief pitchers.

By now, the confidence has to be dripping off of Lowe.

"Even from right when he got up here, and he went  through a big lull when he wasn’t doing much, you never saw his confidence waiver," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said of Lowe. "He’s humble, but he’s very confident in the fact he knows he’s a good player, a good hitter. If he stays with his approach, good things are going to happen.  We’re seeing a good approach right  now where you're seeing above and beyond because he’s on every pitch."

Snell threw 92 pitches and lasted five innings, but he didn't seem overjoyed with his performance. Perhaps part of that was playing in an empty Yankee Stadium. It was so odd that Snell kept telling himself "you suck" to remind him of where he was.

Relievers Pete Franklin, Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Chaz Roe all threw one shutout inning for the Rays.

The Yankees' three runs came on home runs by Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit. The Yankees were without stars Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and D.J. LeMahieu.

The Rays have now won nine of their last 10 games. They play the Yankees again tonight at 7:05 p.m. Tampa Bay will start Tyler Glasnow against Gerrit Cole.


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