*Photo from CBS Sports*
Series tied 1-1
After an uncharacteristic game for the Tampa Bay Rays in game one of the world series, people were wondering how they would respond. Brandon Lowe was the answer. Lowe, one of their best bats in the regular season, had a poor hitting performance in the postseason, until now. Lowe homered twice, drove in 3 runs, and the Rays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by a 6-4 score to even up the world series at a game apiece.
Lowe got the scoring started for the Rays in the first inning, with a solo homer to center field, making it 1-0 early on. In the 4th, Joey Wendle extended the Rays lead with a two run double, making it a 3-0 game. In the 5th, Lowe hit a two run homer to left field, extending the lead to 5-0. In the bottom of the 5th, Chris Taylor got the Dodgers on the board with a two run shot, making it a 5-2 game. In the 6th, Ji-Man Choi scored on a sac fly for the Rays, and Will Smith hit a solo homer for the Dodgers, making the Rays lead 6-3. In the 8th, Corey Seager hit a solo homer to cut it to 6-4, but the Rays pitching shut it down from there.
Nick Anderson was able to get the win for the Rays, pitching 1 1/3 innings in relief of starter Blake Snell. Anderson ended the 5th and threw a one run 6th inning. Snell went 4 2/3 innings for the Rays, allowing two runs on two hits and 4 walks, striking out 9 Dodger hitters. After Snell and Anderson were done, Pete Fairbanks threw 1 2/3 innings, Aaron Loup threw one inning, and Diego Castillo finished it off.
Cash said of Lowe's diminished hitting prior to this game that "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 moving forward, you gotta be able to be tough-minded, and Brandon is, a lot of our guys are. You feel for them when it's not coming as easy as you'd like, but we owe it to our guys to stick with them. And Brandon, go ahead and get hot now and feel good about yourself."
Lowe addressed his cold streak, saying that "To say that my mind wasn't going different places during that kind of struggle, I would be lying to you, there were times that I wasn't feeling too good, but that's what's so great about this team. As soon as I started dragging my feet, somebody was right there to pick me up and tell me to keep going. Just pure joy going into that dugout after hitting that home run."
Tony Gonsolin got the loss for the Dodgers, throwing 1 1/3 innings at the start of the game as an opener, allowing one run on one hit and one walk. Dylan Floro came in after him and threw 1 1/3 shutout innings. Victor Gonzalez then came in and allowed one run in one inning pitched. Dustin May came in and got roughed up, getting tagged for 3 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Joe Kelly, Alex Wood, and Jake McGee pitched after that.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was still optimistic after the game, saying that "We feel great, we've got Walker going, we’ve got Julio going and then we've got Clayton. You look at kind of where our relievers are set with the off-day tomorrow, we're in a great spot."
Gonsolin and May have been struggling for the Dodgers as of late, but Roberts isn't willing to severely diminish their roles. Roberts said that "I think that I still trust them, I still believe in them and they've just got to make pitches, I know that they want to make pitches, execute pitches. We'll kind of look at the video and see what we can do better at, but they're still going to need to get big outs for us."
The series continues on Friday after a day off, where the Dodgers look to regain the series lead as Walker Buehler starts. Charlie Morton gets the start for the Rays.
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