Lowe's 'super cool' 2-homer night leads slugging Rangers

ARLINGTON -- Golden boxes were scattered through the stands at Globe Life Field on Tuesday night, inside of them containing a bobblehead honoring Nathaniel Lowe’s first career Gold Glove Award in 2023.

But in the Rangers’ 7-0 win over the Padres, Lowe looked a little more Silver -- Slugger, that is -- than Gold. The first baseman launched two home runs in the first three innings of the series opener, collecting his fifth career multi-homer game and his first since July 1, 2021, at Oakland.

“I was kind of wondering when I was going to get a chance to make a play,” Lowe joked of his bobblehead night. “But making routine plays is a good enough way to get it done and hitting two homers is super cool.”

Lowe’s second homer of the day was on a 96.5 mph four-seamer from Dylan Cease. That was the hardest pitch against which he has hit a home run in his career. Lowe’s struggles this season have come with his timing, both on the fastball and offspeed pitches. He hit a homer on one of each on Tuesday.

“He's been swinging the bat well coming into tonight's game and it's obvious he sees the ball pretty good right now,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “It's good to see a guy that's one of our core players come around. … Nate’s a good hitter. He's got big power. You guys have seen it. I've seen it and it's all about getting your timing on the fastball and the changeup, which he hit out tonight. He's a good hitter. When good hitters get hot, you see a lot of good things. I think that's what you're seeing with Nate.”

After hitting .240/.353/.313 in May, Lowe has recently found his groove at the plate. He slashed .278/.333/.411 in June and has more home runs in the last week (4) than in his previous 58 games combined (2).

With his two homers, Lowe also tied Mitch Moreland for sixth place in Texas Rangers history with 533 career hits as a first baseman.

When asked what has allowed him to consistently slug the ball more lately, Lowe simply said he doesn’t like thinking about that word. For him, it’s more about not thinking too much. He just tries to be in a position to get a good pitch and drive it. Lately, he’s been doing a better job of it.

“First basemen that don't hit homers don't stick around often,” Lowe said. “I really value my job. My team values this job and the team needs me to drive the ball to win games. It's been nice to be able to come through this last week and get the ball out of the yard. You take inventory when things aren't going as well as you want them to, because my batting average is fine. Not great, but it's fine. But it’s nice to hit the ball into the seats.”

Lowe wasn’t the only bright spot for the offense in the win. The Rangers had eight extra-base hits, including a pair of doubles from Leody Taveras, a double for rookie sensation Wyatt Langford and the first career extra-base hit and RBI from rookie Jonathan Ornelas.

“Good hitting is contagious and bad hitting is the same way,” Lowe said. “So when we get two or three guys really rolling, then I think the sky's the limit for this offense. We saw flashes throughout the year. But we haven't had that consistent stretch where we really got a chance to steamroll teams. For us to put up a bunch of earned runs on a top-tier starter tonight was a really good sign.”

The Rangers also tallied seven or more extra-base hits in back-to-back games (Sunday in Baltimore) for the first time this season.

“You look at where they're at now and it's not quite where they normally are,” Bochy said of the lineup. “You have to think, well, they are going to get to where the numbers are normally. That's what we have to feel good about. This is just one game here on this homestand. But it's a good start. And as I said, we faced a really good pitcher tonight. So to see those at-bats, that's really encouraging.”