BOSTON — Brandon Lowe hardly looks like he has the build of someone that hit two balls as deep as he did in Fenway Park.
He even surprised his own team.
Lowe hit a pair of solo homers into the center-field bleachers that totaled 890 feet, Blake Snell baffled Boston’s lineup, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 Sunday to take three of four from the World Series champions.
“Everyone was like: ‘How’d you hit a ball that far?”’ the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Lowe said after driving balls 455 feet in the sixth and 435 feet in the seventh. “I squared it up and the wind was blowing out a little bit. We’ll say the wind had some carry on it.”
There was actually only a slight breeze blowing in at game time.
Guillermo Heredia and Yandy Diaz also hit solo shots, and Lowe added an RBI single for Tampa Bay, which matched its season-high at 16 games over .500, with a 40-24 record. Diaz had four hits.
Lowe homered on Eduardo Rodriguez’s first pitch of the sixth. Diaz led off the seventh with a drive into the Monster seats, and Lowe connected off Marcus Walden later in the inning for his 13th home run this season.
“Where he hit those two balls, not many guys hit them,” Rays Manager Kevin Cash said. “Watching some of the Red Sox players from some past years, they don’t hit it up there often. He hit it to the deepest part of the ballpark, and they were both no-doubters.”
Snell (4-5) became the third Rays starter to hold Boston to two runs or fewer in the series, after Yonny Chirinos and Ryan Yarbrough.
“They’re a good team,” Boston Manager Alex Cora said. “They can pitch, they can play defense. I’ve been saying it all along, it’s a complete team.”
Snell battled through two tough opening innings, allowing one run and five hits over six innings with seven strikeouts. With runners on second and third in the first, the AL Cy Young Award winner stuck out the next three batters swinging with sharp, breaking curveballs.
“These guys have a track record of being good pitching-wise, and they came here and did what they normally do,” Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.
Rodriguez (6-4) gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts.
Tampa Bay’s first four batters singled, and the Rays took a 2-0 lead on Lowe’s RBI single and Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly.
Heredia homered into the Green Monster seats in the second.
Boston got the first two runners on in the opening two innings but scored just a run on Marco Hernandez’s RBI single in the second.
After Lowe’s second home run, some fans tried to change the mood in Fenway, chanting “We Want the Cup!” ahead of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues on Sunday night. They broke into “Let’s Go Bruins!” cheers later.
ROAD SUCCESS
Tampa Bay has a 23-10 road record following a 5-2 trip.
NICE START
Tampa Bay reached 40 wins in its first 64 games for only the second time, after doing it in 62 games in 2010.
NOT THIS TIME
Boston had gone 9-1 in Rodriguez’s previous 10 starts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: Outfielder Tommy Pham returned to the lineup after he was hit by a pitch on the right wrist in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, forcing him out of the game.
Red Sox: Slugger J.D. Martinez missed his fourth straight game because of back tightness. Cora said Martinez was “feeling better, but he’s not ready to play.” … Cora also said right-hander Nathan Eovaldi had “a little bicep soreness” and was going to back off as he continues rehab from surgery to remove loose body in his right elbow in late April. … Third baseman Rafael Devers and left fielder Andrew Benintendi had the day off.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
