
Wednesday, 4 a.m.
He is hurt too often. He is streaky to a fault. He has struggled in the post-season.
Still, there are times when Brandon Lowe reminds you of how much he can mean to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Lowe’s 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot, highlighted the Rays’ 4-2 win over Toronto Tuesday night. It continued a slow climb by Lowe, who was hitting just .193 25 games ago. Since then, he is hitting .286 with seven home runs.
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The Rays should have appreciated him more than ever in this one. Tampa Bay managed just three other hits (Toronto gave up eight walks, too) in their win.
The Rays returned to their opener-bulk guy strategy in this one. They called up Tyler Alexander from Durham, and he went three innings and gave up three hits and no runs. That came after Shawn Alexander started and threw two shutout, one-hit innings.
The last time Alexander faced the Jays, he went into the eighth inning with a perfect game.
The Rays have finally climbed back above .500 at 51-50.
When the Rays have been sharp, their bullpen usually shines. Jason Adams recorded his 19th hold and Pete Fairbanks got his 19th save.
Toronto’s two runs came on back-to-back homers by Vlad Guerrero and Justin Turner. But Toronto was 0-3 with runners in scoring position.
The Rays and Jays play again today at 7:07 p.m. Zach Eflin will start for Tampa Bay against Yariel Rodriguez.