Josh Lowe hit two home runs while going 3-for-5 with four RBIs to help the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to a 10-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.
Reliever Colin Poche (1-1) replaced starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot in the fourth and tossed a perfect 1 2/3 innings for the Rays, who totaled 17 hits and have won four of their past five games.
Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds extended his major league-leading hitting streak to a career-high 18 games. Starter Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3) allowed one run on four hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Lowe’s second home run of the night off reliever Luis L. Ortiz padded the Rays’ lead in the sixth inning. With two on and two out, Lowe belted an opposite-field shot to put the visitors in front 7-2.
He also gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead in the third with a solo shot off Ortiz.
The Pittsburgh reliever entered the night having allowed only one home run this season.
Hitless on the night and with his hitting streak in jeopardy, Reynolds smashed a fastball 439 feet out of the park in the eighth inning to make it 7-3.
Ben Rortvedt’s three-run homer to right field in the ninth extended the Rays’ advantage to 10-3.
In the fourth, Jose Siri drew a lead-off walk and eventually scored on Yandy Diaz’s line drive to extend the lead to 3-0. Brandon Lowe pushed it to 4-0 with a fly-ball single that brought in Rortvedt, who had reached on a single.
The Pirates started to claw back in the bottom half.
Pepiot walked Rowdy Tellez and Nick Gonzales to start the inning, and then Tellez scored when Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a single. Two batters later, Jack Suwinski doubled to the right-field corner to send Gonzales across the plate and cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Rays had gone ahead 1-0 in the second. After a one-out single from Siri, Rortvedt doubled, and Taylor Walls followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Siri.
That spelled the end of the outing for Mlodzinski, replaced by Ortiz.
–Field Level Media