Brandon Lowe’s grand slam powers Rays over Blue Jays

ST. PETERSBURG — Brandon Lowe didn’t feel the contact, so he knew it was good. In the third inning Friday night, the Rays slugger squared up a pitch and hit it so hard and on the sweet spot he didn’t even feel the ball touch his bat before it rocketed into the right-centerfield seats.

Lowe’s grand slam, the first by a major-leaguer in the 2024 season, powered up the Rays offense, and they went on to beat the Blue Jays 8-2 in front of an announced 18,653 at Tropicana Field.

“I knew that I hit it hard,” Lowe said. I couldn’t have hit it and not looked at the screen and told you what (the exit velocity) was going to be. But making contact with it, the ones that you hit the hardest, they’re always the ones that you don’t feel and didn’t feel come off the bat. So that was a pretty, pretty good sign.”

Lowe’s grand slam was the fourth of his career, tying him with Matt Joyce for second-most in franchise history (behind Carlos Pena and Ben Zobrist, who each hit five).

It also was one of a few pretty good signs for the Rays (1-1), who bounced back strong from their opening day loss.

Aaron Civale matched his longest start as a Ray, holding the Blue Jays to one run over six innings. The right-hander struck out six, scattered four hits and walked just one while picking up his first career win at the Trop. Chris Bassitt took the loss for the Blue Jays (1-1), who committed three errors, two by shortstop Bo Bichette.

Lowe’s homer was the exclamation point on an encouraging night for the Rays’ offense. Catcher Ben Rortvedt had two hits and drew a 12-pitch walk in his Tampa Bay debut. Yandy Diaz had his second multi-hit game of the season, Lowe and Randy Arozarena their first.

Lowe’s left-handed power was particularly encouraging for a team that is lacking lefty hitters at the moment. Josh Lowe is out with a strained oblique, and Jonathan Aranda is sidelined with a broken finger.

“It’s pretty important,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Brandon, I’m glad that he has a track record of having success and being a really good player in this league, because we’re not going to deny the fact that we need him to be good right now with no Josh, no Jonny, and I think he’s totally understanding and knows what he’s capable of.”

In the third inning, Lowe showed he is capable of changing a game with a single swing.

Rortvedt, acquired from the Yankees on Wednesday, singled in his first at-bat with the Rays to lead off the third. Bassitt then hit Jose Caballero with a pitch, and Diaz reached when Bichette dropped a pop-up, loading the bases for Lowe.

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The second baseman turned on a 1-1 cutter that hung over the middle of the plate and belted it 444 feet to right-centerfield. The home run had an exit velocity of 111 mph and was the second-longest of the season, according to Statcast.

“It feels great,” Lowe said. “It’s not every day you hit one 111. So, at my size (5-10), I’ll take every single one of those.”

So will the Rays.

In 2021, Lowe crushed a career-high 39 home runs. Since then, however, he has been limited by injuries. He missed the 2023 postseason after fouling a ball off his kneecap and fracturing it. The Rays do not think it was a coincidence that their offense struggled to score without Lowe’s bat in the lineup, managing just one run while being swept by the Rangers in the American League Wild Card Series.

“It’s nice to have him in the lineup,” Cash said. “If we keep him in the lineup, we’re going to get a lot of those swings. He’s got the track record of hitting a lot of home runs. He can certainly come up and get big ones like he did (Friday). Yeah, just want to keep him out there as much as possible.”

Lowe’s took his home run swing as a sign he is doing the right things at the plate.

“When you can take a swing like that, square it up — obviously, all the other things that come after that are fantastic — but to be able to take a swing, square a ball up like that, it just solidifies everything,” he said. “You’re making the right moves, you’re swinging at the right pitches, and just keep doing what you’re doing.”

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