Brandon Lowe rewards manager's trust with 5-RBI day in Rays' big win

MIAMI -- With a left-handed starter on the mound for the Marlins, there was just one left-handed batter in the Rays lineup on Tuesday night: Brandon Lowe.

Lowe hadn’t started against a lefty all season. In fact, he only had five plate appearances against southpaw pitchers entering the night. But the Rays are in a stretch where they’re facing four left-handed starters in a row, with two off-days on either side of this two-game series at loanDepot park, and manager Kevin Cash didn’t want his left-handed hitters out of the lineup for essentially a full week.“That’s not ideal,” Cash said Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll try to do right by that group, for sure.”

And Lowe did right by his manager on Tuesday night, bashing a game-tying three-run homer off Jesús Luzardo in the Rays’ four-run fourth inning and a two-run double off Luzardo in Tampa Bay’s five-run fifth. The Rays rode those two big innings, a quality start by Ryan Pepiot and a bases-loaded escape in the ninth by closer Pete Fairbanks to a 9-5 win over the Marlins.

The Rays have won 22 of 25 games against the Marlins since the start of the 2019 season. They wound up scoring nine runs for the first time since putting up a season-high 10 against the Mets on May 3, a confidence-boosting performance for a group that was averaging 2.9 runs per game while dropping nine of their last 13.

“You look up and down our lineup, we're extremely talented. We just haven't haven't hit our stride yet, it feels like. We've held on,” Lowe said. “I think it's one of those things where it shows what we can do and how good this team can swing the bat. Hopefully it instills some confidence in our guys up there.”

Pepiot gave up three runs on a homer, an RBI triple and a 106.6 mph single as he grinded through a 36-pitch first inning. Reliever Kevin Kelly got up in the bullpen, and Pepiot was a batter or two away from being pulled. But he was lights-out after that, retiring 16 of the final 17 batters he faced as he struck out eight without a walk in his fifth quality start of the season.

“First inning, I can't do anything about it. I can't change that it's 3-0, but how can I keep it three?” Pepiot said. “That was the mentality: Attack, and that's all they get.”

Meanwhile, the Rays lineup came to life in the fourth after Luzardo cruised through the first three innings.

Lowe whiffed on three sliders and struck out against Luzardo in his first at-bat. But he stepped up with two on and one out in the fourth inning, swung at a first-pitch slider and launched it down the right-field line with an exit velocity of 108.7 mph for his first homer off a lefty since taking Carlos Rodón deep last Aug. 27.

It was Lowe’s second home run of the season and his first since a grand slam against the Blue Jays in the Rays’ second game of the year on March 29.

“If he's seeing the ball well, we know what he's capable of,” Cash said. “And tonight he certainly did.”

As well as it worked out, Cash said there was “no reason” Lowe got the nod against Luzardo over one of the other lefties, but Lowe received word during the Rays’ off-day in Miami on Monday that he’d be in the lineup Tuesday night.

Specifically, he saw the text message while chasing his 1-year-old son, Emmett, around the pool at the team hotel. He barely had time to register the news.

“I kind of looked at it, like, 'OK, playing,'” Lowe said. “Then you look down and the kid's running away.”

Tampa Bay pulled ahead as Amed Rosario singled and scored on a double by Jose Siri. That was merely an appetizer, however, as the Rays matched their biggest offensive inning of the season in the fifth.

They loaded the bases on a single by Yandy Díaz, a walk by Randy Arozarena (who reached base five times) and a Harold Ramírez infield single. Isaac Paredes smacked a two-run single to left to bring up Lowe.

Again, Lowe swung on the first pitch -- this time a changeup. Again, he clobbered it.

Lowe blasted a 107 mph double high off the wall in right-center field, driving in two more runs and chasing Luzardo after the lefty allowed a career-high nine earned runs. Lowe scored on Rosario’s single off right-hander Declan Cronin to make it a 9-3 game.

“I tried to be as calm as possible at the plate and try to get something close to the middle,” Lowe said. “Thankfully, he did leave two pitches up and I was able to get on them.”