Arlington, Texas –If the Tampa Bay was going to make this a series they had to dial up some fire power especially from Brandon Lowe.
The Rays kept their faith in Lowe and it paid off for them big time in Game 2 of the World Series.
Lowe became the first player to hit two opposite-field home runs in a World Series game, and carry them to a 6-4 victor Wednesday night to even the series at one game apiece in front of a crowd of 11,472.
“Yeah, those felt really good,” Brandon Lowe said. “It felt great to kind of get back and contribute to the team. They’ve been doing so well for the past month. It felt really good to get back and actually start doing stuff again.”
Lowe’s multi-homer game was the 55th in WS history, the seventh by a second baseman and the first by a Rays player. Tampa Bay kept the home run party going. The Rays set a record with 28 home runs this postseason, and entering the World Series, nearly 72% of their runs had come by the long ball.
Hitting in the No. 2 spot, he smashed a pitch from rookie starter Tony Gonsolin to left field in the first inning, giving the Rays an early lead in the game. He then hit on a two-run shot off Dustin May in the fifth inning, pushing Tampa Bay’s advantage to 5-0.
“The biggest reason that makes us all believe it is he’s shown over time that he’s a really good hitter, really good player, and sometimes guys, you got to let them go through some tough patches, and he’s been in one,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after Wednesday’s win. “It was exciting for the first home run. The second one really ignited them. You’ve seen it. You’ve covered him. He can go quiet for a little while, but he can get as hot as anybody in baseball. Hopefully, that’s the trend that we’re looking at going forward.”
Blake Snell had great stuff on the mound for the Rays. He pitched four hitless innings and got two outs in the fifth before Chris Taylor got to him with a two-out, two-run home run to make it 5-4. Snell finished the night allowing just two hits and two earned runs while striking out nine over 4 2/3 innings.
The Dodgers’ bats started to warm up, Ray’s first baseman Ji Man Choi manufactured a insurance run in the top of the sixth. He led off with a hit, advanced to third on a single to left by Manuel Margot and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Wendle to make it 6-2.
LA had other ideas and kept coming. They got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a Will Smith solo homer, then another in the eighth on a deep homer to center field by Corey Seager to make it 6-4. The Dodgers had a chance to score another in the inning after Justin Turner doubled with no outs, but a Max Muncy fly out and a great catch by Wendle on a hard hit ball from Smith allowed Aaron Loup to close out the inning by striking out Cody Bellinger.
Loup retired the first two outs of the ninth, then Castillo came in and struck out Taylor to get the save and close the game out.
The teams will return Friday for Game 3 with an exciting pitching matchup of the series: Dodgers Walker Buehler against Rays Charlie Morton.
https://youtu.be/Cs4cnKztqtw
