By Canadian Press

Lowe HR 4 games in row, Rays top Blue Jays 3-2 in resumption

Aug 16, 2020 | 2:01 PM

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Brandon Lowe hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to keep up his power surge and lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Sunday in the completion of a suspended game.

Saturday night’s game was halted in the fourth inning because of rain with the Rays leading 1-0. The Rays and Blue Jays were to follow Sunday with a seven-inning game, shortened from the regularly scheduled nine innings.

Lowe homered in his fourth straight game, connecting for a tiebreaking drive off Jordan Romano (1-1). He also doubled in the seventh.

Lowe, an All-Star last season, became the third player in Rays history with a streak of at least eight games with an extra-base hit, joining two players who had nine-game strings: Evan Longoria in 2009 and Wilson Ramos in 2018. Lowe’s 16 extra-base hits lead the American League.

Yandy Diaz and Manuel Margot each had two hits for Tampa Bay, which has won seven of eight.

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Aaron Loup (2-0) faced two batters and got the win. Nick Anderson pitched a perfect ninth to record his third save.

Teoscar Hernandez, Randal Grichuk, and Rowdy Tellez each had two hits for Toronto.

Austin Meadows homered for Tampa Bay before the rains came.

The teams exchanged runs in the fifth. Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead when Diaz scored after a mishandled relay of Ji-Man Choi’s double. Toronto equaled the score again when Hernandez hit an RBI double.

The suspension occurred due to torrential rain which caused a delay of nearly two hours on Saturday. It marked Toronto’s second-ever suspended home game, with the previous one occurring in 1980 when a day game was halted after 14 innings due to a 5 p.m. curfew at Exhibition Stadium, which was also a venue for concerts during the annual Canadian National Exhibition.

Toronto is playing in Buffalo at the home of their Triple-A affiliate after the Canadian government banned the team for hosting games at Rogers Centre because of coronavirus concerns.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: Toronto was forced to replace shortstop Bo Bichette, who was undergoing tests for a right knee injury. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said that Bichettte, whose .361 batting average ranks second in the American League, felt something while stretching before an at-bat on Saturday. Montoyo had no immediate update on whether the injury will be a long-term concern, saying, “I’d be speculating. I’ll wait to see all the tests and see where we go from there.”.

UP NEXT

The regularly scheduled game, now to last seven innings under MLB’s doubleheader rules, will feature Rays RHP Yonny Chirinos (0-0, 1.04) coming off the IL to face Blue Jays RHP Matt Shoemaker (0-1, 4.86), who has held opposing batters to a .194 average in three starts.

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Mike Haim, The Associated Press