Inside The Pinstripes

Brandon Lowe Smacks Three Home Runs as Rays Rout Yankees

Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe crushed three home runs in a blowout win over the New York Yankees in the penultimate game of the regular season

Max Goodman

NEW YORK — Battling to secure home-field advantage in this year's American League Wild Card Game, and avoid a one-game tiebreaker, Saturday afternoon against the Rays was another must-win ballgame for the Yankees.

And yet, it looked like Tampa Bay—a team that's already clinched a spot in the postseason—was the team that had everything to play for.

The Rays humiliated the Bombers in front of 41,648 fans at Yankee Stadium, exploding for a dozen runs on 19 hits in a 12-2 romp. With the Red Sox and Blue Jays both winning Saturday, New York is now tied with Boston in the wild-card spots. Toronto trails by one game, and Seattle would be tied with the Jays if the Mariners can beat the Angels Saturday night.

New York has had their fair share of brutal losses this season, with plenty of trips to rock bottom, but considering the circumstances during the final weekend of the regular season, this shellacking is up there with the worst of them. 

Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe had a career afternoon, leading the offensive outburst for the visitors by swatting three home runs and driving in seven runs. Lowe smacked two three-run shots over the short porch in right field within the first three innings, helping to give Tampa Bay a commanding 7-0 lead while fans were still arriving at the ballpark. 

Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery was chased after just 2.2 frames, charged with each of those seven runs. That's not just a season-high for Montgomery, who distinguished himself as New York's No. 2 starter with a tremendous campaign. It's a career-high. 

Meanwhile, the Yankees were absent once again on offense. Similar to Friday night's loss to the Rays, New York was held down by a slew of Tampa Bay's hurlers. 

Except unlike Friday, the Bombers never showed any late life or threatened to mount a comeback. New York had just four hits in the loss. 

Anthony Rizzo's solo home run in the bottom of the first kept the crowd in the game temporarily. Joey Gallo scored the Yankees' only other run, scampering home from third base on an RBI triple from Gio Urshela.  

New York's magic number is still one, and they're guaranteed to at least play in a Game 163 tiebreaker, but home-field advantage in an eventual wild card game is in danger of slipping away. 

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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