Friday, 4 a.m.
Yeah, Brandon Lowe's back is feeling fine. So good, in fact, he can carry the team on it.
Lowe, the star of the last two regular seasons for the Tampa Bay Rays, has returned to the lineup in fine form these days. Since he came back from the injured list on July 16 -- 14 games ago -- he is hitting a cool .339 for a rare burst of production in the Rays' lineup.
Lowe had three hits in Thursday night's 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. He had a home run, drove in three runs and scored twice to lead the Rays.
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Randy Arozarena also had a big night with four hits.
“He hit like a DH," laughed Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "It was awesome. Welcome Brandon in the lineup. He does look comfortable in the box. He got some pitches to do some damage today. He’s covering a lot of pitches right now.
“He’s a special hitter, an all-star caliber hitter. He’s put up ridiculous numbers in the seasons he’s played. You take away his injuries and who knows where he’d be at as far as home runs, RBI, doubles and all that stuff."
The Rays got a solid pitching performance from Jeffrey Springs, who gave up two unearned runs (after back-to-back errors by Yandy Diaz in the third inning).
“We kind of put him behind there," Cash said. "I thought he was making really good pitches. There were 4-5 ground balls that inning. Some got through; some we weren’t able to secure. That looked more like the Springs we saw before the all-star break."
The Rays are now two games ahead of Cleveland in the final wild card slot in the American League.
The Rays send Corey Kluber to the mound in today's 7:10 p.m. game against Detroit. The Tigers have not announced their starter.