Lowe homers twice as Tampa Bay holds off Dodgers to even Series
TEXAS » Brandon Lowe busted out early and Tampa Bay’s bullpen hung on late.
Rays and Dodgers, tied after two in Texas.
Lowe shook loose from his extended postseason slump with two opposite- field homers, and Tampa Bay held off Los Angeles 6- 4 on Wednesday night to square the
World Series at one game apiece.
Blake Snell struck out nine in 4M innings for the Rays and didn’t allow a hit until Chris Taylor’s tworun homer trimmed it to 5- 2 in the fifth. Los Angeles threatened to complete a big comeback in the eighth, but Tampa Bay’s relievers held firm.
Lowe and Joey Wendle each drove in three runs for the Rays.
Nick Anderson got four outs for the win. Diego Castillo earned the save when he struck out Taylor, the only batter he faced.
Lowe hit an opposite- field solo homer to left- center in the first off Tony Gonsolin, putting the American League champion Rays ahead for the first time at this neutral- site World Series with their 27th home run of the postseason, matching a major league record. The second baseman was hitting .107 this postseason, and in an even worse 4- for
48 slide (. 083) the past 13 games since the start of the ALDS.
By the time he went deep in the fifth, his second opposite- field shot of the game and the entire season — with a runner on against Dustin May, already the fourth Dodgers pitcher — it was 5- 0.
Will Smith and NLCS MVP Corey Seager also homered for the Dodgers. Seager’s solo shot in the eighth was his seventh homer and 16th RBI, extended the franchise records he had already set this postseason. Those are also the most homers by a shortstop in any MLB postseason.
After an off day, Game 3 is Friday night when there will be a pair of big- game starters on extra rest after both pitched last Saturday.
Right- hander Walker Buehler threw six scoreless innings for the Dodgers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.
Charlie Morton, who has won all three of his starts this postseason and was the Game 7 winner for Houston at Dodger Stadium in the World Series three years ago, went 5M scoreless innings in the Rays’ Game 7 ALCS- clinching win over the Astros.
Snell already had all his strikeouts when he walked Kiké Hernández with two outs in the fifth before Taylor, the No. 9 batter, homered on his 80th pitch. The Rays ace was out of the game two batters later, after Mookie Betts walked and Seager singled. Anderson got out of the jam with a strikeout of Justin Turner.
The Dodgers knew it would be primarily a bullpen game using various arms, instead of bringing back Buehler on short rest after ace lefty Clayton Kershaw threw six strong innings in their 8- 3 win Tuesday night in Game 1.
Four of the first five LA pitchers allowed runs, with Dylan Floro keeping a clean slate after benefiting from a nice defensive play and a replay review that ended the second. The Dodgers were the first team to use four pitchers within the first four innings of a World Series game since the Oakland Athletics against Cincinnati in Game 3 of the 1990 World Series.
Gonsolin, the rookie right- hander who started, allowed Lowe’s first homer and was done after 1 L innings. Snell threw only 10 pitches in a 1- 2- 3 first that included strikeouts of Betts and Turner. After 11 of his first 15 pitches in the second inning were balls, among two walks and a strikeout, the 2018 Al Cy Young Award winner retired the next 10 batters until the walk to Hernández in the fifth.