Brandon Lowe has feasted on the Toronto Blue Jays this season.
Lowe will look to continue his torrid hitting on Saturday night when the Tampa Bay Rays turn to struggling Shane Baz in the second contest of their three-game series versus the visiting Blue Jays.
Lowe hit a two-run homer in the third inning of Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win on Friday. He is 8-for-17 with three homers and eight RBIs in four games against the Blue Jays this season. The Rays have won three of those games.
Like Lowe, Curtis Mead homered for the second consecutive contest. He launched a solo shot in the fourth inning to help Tampa Bay overcome a season-high eight walks en route to its third consecutive victory.
Lowe and Mead will look to tee off against Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (1-1, 4.19 ERA) on Saturday.
Berrios recorded his seventh straight no-decision despite allowing just two runs in six innings of a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Included in that stretch is a tough outing against Tampa Bay on May 13, in which he permitted five runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings of an 11-9 Rays win. Berrios, 30, is 4-6 with a 4.79 ERA in 14 career outings (all starts) versus the Rays.
Baz (3-3, 5.33) is in the midst of a horrific month, as the right-hander fell to 0-3 with a bloated 9.61 ERA in four outings after yielding five runs in six innings in a 5-1 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday.
“I think it’s just such a weird game,” Baz said, per the Tampa Bay Times. “Obviously, it’s not fun to go out there and do that. You can kind of look at yourself in the mirror and see what you’re doing wrong and just be honest with yourself. And just try and be better from here on out. Just trying to flush every outing — good and bad — and just on to the next one.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash noted that Baz’s command has been an issue of late.
“The stuff, you’re not going to always have your best stuff out there all the time,” Cash said. “But you’ve got to be able to execute pitches, certainly in two-strike situations and 0-0 situations. And I don’t think you know he’s necessarily done that, or did not do that (Sunday).”
Baz, 25, received a no-decision against Toronto on May 13 after allowing three runs in 4 2/3 innings in the Rays’ 11-9 victory. He is 2-0 with a 2.91 ERA in four career appearances (all starts) versus the Blue Jays.
Whether Baz faces Anthony Santander is in question, however.
Santander was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game Friday with inflammation in his left hip. He entered as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning and walked on four pitches before being replaced for a pinch runner.
Toronto manager John Schneider said the team wants to get a better look at Santander before deciding on a potential stint on the injured list.
“We’ll see how (Saturday) goes,” Schneider said. “I would say by (Saturday) or Sunday, yeah, with the quick turnaround into the day game Sunday.”
–Field Level Media
