Brandon Lowe is getting hot, and that means the Rays are on a roll

TAMPA — On nights such as this, you understand the devotion.

For a franchise that is unafraid, and unapologetic, about reinventing itself from year to year, the Rays have held tight to one player longer than any other. When he arrived in 2018, he was part of a group of promising young players on the verge of making noise in the American League East.

Willy Adames. Austin Meadows. Blake Snell. Tyler Glasnow. Jose Alvarado.

They’re all gone now, along with dozens of others.

Brandon Lowe remains.

And the Rays are better for it.

Lowe hit a two-run homer and made a highlight-worthy snag of a 113 mph shot at second base as the Rays beat the Blue Jays 3-1 on Friday night for their third consecutive win at Steinbrenner Field.

“Just looking a little bit more like himself, for sure,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

This is what the Rays mean when they talk about Lowe being capable of carrying the club. He’s a notoriously streaky hitter who can go into week-long funks, but he always seems to turn it around with an equally long hot streak.

It makes total sense that a team is going to succeed more often when its best power hitter is on a roll. But in Lowe’s case, Tampa Bay’s numbers are almost frighteningly tied to his fortunes.

Since 2022, nearly 80% of his home runs have come in Rays victories.

When Lowe hits, the Rays win.

“We’ve been together a long time, and I’ve seen him go quiet for a couple series on end but then get hotter than anybody in baseball,” Cash said. “He can definitely carry us, and I hope that’s the thought that he’s starting to see the ball.

“A lot of really good signs coming from him.”

Lowe is now 13-for-37 (.351) with four home runs over his last 10 games. It’s no surprise the Rays were 18-22 before that but have gone 6-4 since then.

“You don’t feel it when it’s coming, you just know, ‘I feel good at the plate,’ and that is what it is,” Lowe said. “You don’t ever truly understand in the moment, because this game is moving fast and there are a lot of things going on. When you’re doing well, you just want to keep it going.”

While his numbers were not particularly Lowe-like during the season’s first month, Lowe was actually swinging the bat pretty well. At one point, the metrics said he had a greater discrepancy between what his slugging percentage was and what it should have been based on his contact. In other words, he was hitting a ton of hard line drives, but they weren’t finding holes.

He avoided that pitfall Friday when he drove a low slider high over the rightfield wall after Junior Caminero had walked to put the Rays up 2-0 in the third. Turned out, that was all the offense they would need on a night when Drew Rasmussen and the defense were also on a roll.

Rasmussen, who has now thrown 12 consecutive shutout innings, worked out of a couple of jams in the third and fifth innings. Catcher Danny Jansen provided one big play by throwing out Nathan Lukes trying to stretch a single into a double with a runner on third base in the third. In the fifth, Caminero gloved a 110 mph shot from Bo Bichette to turn an inning-ending double play.

“That ball was smashed,” Rasmussen said. “To start a double play there was huge. Danny cutting a runner down at second when they kind of had us on the ropes was big. The play (Jose Caballero) made there with (George) Springer to end my outing (in the sixth) was huge. I don’t know how hard that (Addison) Barger ball was hit at Brandon (in the second), but to stay in there and not bail out and get a glove on it.

“They can’t be (over)stated. Their efforts were great.”

The defense wasn’t the only saving grace for Rasmussen.

After Mason Montgomery walked the bases loaded in the seventh, reliever Manny Rodriguez came in and got a run-scoring, double-play grounder to short circuit Toronto’s comeback attempt.

“I wanted to get the grounder in that situation,” Rodriguez said through team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “Trusting myself first and then trusting that my guys were going to make the double play.”

It wasn’t completely pretty. Between Rasmussen and four relievers, the Rays gave up eight walks. It’s the first time since April 10, 2013 the Rays had given up at least eight walks and still held a team to one run or less.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting in the game and getting in the zone a bit quicker,” Cash said.

• • •

Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.

Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.

Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.