This story was originally published by Dead Spin
If the Tampa Bay Rays are to make a push toward the postseason, they’ll need the contributions of Josh Lowe.
Hampered by injuries and inconsistency this season, the outfielder is finding his groove. In the Rays’ 6-1 road victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday, Lowe had his first career four-hit game and second career multi-homer game, and he’ll try to maintain the momentum Sunday when the teams conclude their three-game series with the rubber game on Sunday.
Manager Kevin Cash knows what kind of a boost Lowe can provide the Rays.
“We need him to get hot and stay hot for the remainder of the season. He’s such a big part of us getting our offense going,” Cash said after Saturday’s game, per MLB.com. “And today we saw certainly what he’s capable of doing.”
Tampa Bay evened the three-game weekend series behind Lowe, who finished 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Lowe spotted the Rays a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish with a two-run shot in the fifth inning before adding a solo blast the opposite way to left field in the seventh. Both homers, his sixth and seventh on the season, came with two outs.
The Rays have scuffled this season offensively, but if Lowe — who said he “figured something out” during a two-game series with the Miami Marlins earlier this week — gets going, he has the potential to carry the Rays as they linger on the fringes of the American League postseason picture.
Tampa Bay enters play Sunday five games back of the Kansas City Royals for the third wild-card spot in the American League.
Rookie right-hander Hunter Bigge (0-0, 1.69 ERA) is scheduled to serve as the opener for the Rays in the series finale. He made four relief appearances with the Chicago Cubs following his big league debut on July 9 and was traded to the Rays with infielder Christopher Morel and pitching prospect Ty Johnson for third baseman Isaac Paredes on July 28.
Bigge has worked two scoreless innings in two appearances with the Rays with one hit allowed. Bigge worked a scoreless inning against the Astros in the series opener on Friday and recorded a pair of strikeouts in the 3-2 Tampa Bay loss.
Rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (4-9, 5.58 ERA) will start for the Astros — his first career appearances against the Rays. Arrighetti was winless across five starts last month, finishing 0-3 with a 5.33 ERA. He recorded 29 strikeouts across 27 innings in July.
After recording 12 strikeouts against the Rays on Saturday, the Astros set a franchise record with their ninth consecutive game of 10-plus strikeouts. Houston has averaged 12.67 strikeouts per game during that nine-game span yet dropped to 5-4 in that stretch with the loss to the Rays.
The Astros have scored more than three runs only four times over the last nine games. To that end, they continue to be weakened by the absence of All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker, who has missed 48 games with a right shin contusion. Tucker, who posted 19 home runs and 40 RBIs in 60 games, remains on the 60-day injured list and his return seems anything but imminent.
“Would be great, but I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s going to happen,” Astros manager Joe Espada said when asked if Tucker will return this month. “It would be fantastic but it’s kind of day to day and see how he feels and how we build him up.
“It would be too aggressive for me to say we’ll have him by the end of the month. There’s a possibility.”
Tucker last played June 3.
–Field Level Media
