Injury cuts Lowe's do-it-all night short

ST. PETERSBURG -- Brandon Lowe left Tuesday’s game against the Orioles at Tropicana Field with a right lower leg contusion. X-rays were negative and he is considered day to day.

In the sixth inning, Lowe fouled consecutive pitches off his right shin and was down momentarily before resuming the at-bat. Lowe collected his third hit of the night with a base hit down the third-base line, but he was in clear discomfort as he limped his way to first base.

“The first one got me in the shin guard,” Lowe said. “But obviously the second one went a little bit above the shin guard. Kind of a double whammy, but I’ll be good.”

Rays manager Kevin Cash said that Lowe, who was seen on crutches after the game, will not be in Tampa Bay's lineup on Wednesday against Baltimore.

“We’ll find out a lot more with how he wakes up, how he walks around," Cash said, "but I wouldn’t anticipate seeing him in the lineup tomorrow.”

Lowe said that he feels pain in the shin, but he hopes that the injury won’t sideline him for an extended period of time.

“I really couldn’t put pressure on my front foot on the swing,” Lowe said. “It was kind of the same reaction when I started running, just a lot of pain. Thankfully it was hit in a spot where I didn’t have to go because it wasn’t really going to happen.”

The 24-year-old opened Tuesday’s game with a stellar diving stop at second base to rob Jonathan Villar of a hit for the second consecutive night. In the bottom half of the first inning, Lowe launched his team-leading 16th home run of the season, tying Evan Longoria for the most homers hit by a rookie before the All-Star break in franchise history.

Lowe, who has cemented himself as one of the top rookies in the American League with a solid first half, knocked in the Rays' second run of the game with an RBI single in the third inning. He now leads the team with 49 runs batted in.

Despite coming into Tuesday’s game on a 1-for-17 skid, Lowe leads all AL rookies in batting average (.276), hits (76), doubles (17), home runs (16) and RBIs (49).

“I said to [bench coach Matt Quatraro] that I was fortunate enough to watch Dustin Pedroia play so many years at second base in Boston when he was healthy and all those things,” Cash said. “Brandon does similar things, the way he lays out and covers so much ground. He makes the routine play and he makes the outstanding play. He makes it look easy, and it’s not easy.”