Tampa Bay Rays at Pittsburgh Pirates

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

37-39, 18-16 Away

Final
10 - 3

Pittsburgh Pirates

36-39, 18-19 Home

Josh Lowe homers twice as Rays breeze past the Pirates 10-3

Lowe hit a solo shot to right off Luis Ortiz in the third inning and went deep again with two aboard in the sixth to give the Rays a rare breather amid a string of tight finishes.

Tampa Bay entered Friday having had each of its previous four games decided in the final at-bat. There was no drama this time thanks to the first multi-homer game of Lowe's career.

“That's the goal right, to have a stress-free win,” Lowe said.

Lowe has endured two stints on the injured list this season due to a right oblique strain. Getting back into a rhythm has been difficult, though he believes he's starting to find himself in the batter's box.

He certainly looked comfortable when he sent an Ortiz pitch to a place few left-handed batters reach at PNC Park. Lowe's second homer crashed into the bleachers just to the left of the 410-foot notch in left-center.

“You know (Lowe is) trying to get that timing,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “And it certainly looked like he got it today ... to go (opposite field) here is really, really impressive.”

Ben Rortvedt added three hits, including a three-run homer in the ninth.

Jose Siri also had three hits and made a pair of spectacular catches in center. He chased down a line drive to left-center by Nick Gonzales leading off the second and ended the game by robbing Jack Suwinski of extra bases with a leaping grab at the wall.

“I think (Siri) is amazing teammates right now with how consistent his play is, how good he is out in the outfield and look, the quality of his at bats have completely turned around,” Cash said.

Yandy Díaz singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to a career-best 23 games as the Rays finished with a season-high 17 hits.

Colin Poche (1-1) helped Tampa escape a bases-loaded jam in the fourth by getting Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Bryan Reynolds hit his 11th homer of the season to push his hitting streak to a career-best 18 games. The left fielder is hitting .342 in June. Suwinski had an RBI double for Pittsburgh and Ke'Bryan Hayes added an RBI single.

The Pirates, still down a man in the starting rotation because of injuries to Martin Perez, Quinn Priester and Marco Gonzales, turned to their bullpen. The strategy has worked of late but not on the first night of a rare visit to Pittsburgh by Tampa Bay.

Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3) gave up a run in the first 1 2/3 innings before giving way to Ortiz. The right-hander who had hoped to make the starting rotation out of spring training has thrived in a long relief role this season but struggled on a steamy night with temperatures in the mid-90s.

Tampa touched Ortiz for six runs on 10 hits in four innings. He failed to retire the Rays in order once and things got out of hand in the sixth.

The loss came on a day Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said he's given general manager Ben Cherington the green light to seek trades that will help an offense that has kept the Pirates from emerging from a crowded if underwhelming NL Central pack.

Pittsburgh managed just five hits and only two over the final five innings.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Pirates: C Joey Bart (thumb) served as the designated hitter for Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday night. Bart will catch for Perez (left groin) on Saturday when Perez makes a rehab start. ... Utility player Ji Hwan Bae (right wrist) also made a rehab appearance for Indianapolis on Friday. ... C Henry Davis (concussion) is still showing some concussion-like symptoms and has yet to return to “high-exertion activities,” according to Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk.

Tampa Bay's Zach Eflin (3-4, 4.12 ERA) starts against promising Pittsburgh rookie Jared Jones (4-6, 3.76) on Saturday.

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Pittsburgh Pirates?

TV Channel: Rays at Pirates 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Pirates: 58.5%

Rays: 41.5%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Suwinski flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Joe flied out to right.
	9th Inning	Hayes flied out to right.
	9th Inning	Walls grounded out to first.
	9th Inning	Rortvedt homered to right (370 feet), Rosario scored and Siri scored.
	9th Inning	Siri doubled to right, Rosario to third.

Statistics

TB		PIT
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	1
16	Ground Balls	10
4	Strikeouts	6
10	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
17	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	0
1	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
10	Runs	3
1	Ground Into Double Play	2
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
42	At Bats	30
3	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	13
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	1
23	Fly Balls	14
0	Caught Stealing	0
174	Pitches	133
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
29	Total Bases	9
45	Plate Appearances	35
486.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
6	Extra Base Hits	2
10.8	Runs Created	2.1
.405	Batting Average	.167
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.690	Slugging Percentage	.300
.310	Secondary Average	.267
.422	On Base Percentage	.286
1.113	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.586
0.7	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
10.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	2.1
72.0	Batter Rating	22.0
14.0	At Bats Per Home Run	30.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.87	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.80
.286	Isolated Power	.133
0.25	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.67
.022	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.114
-.095	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.100
20.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.7	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.2
118.5	MLB Rating	72.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0