Rays knock off Cardinals, salvage final game of series

Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and scored twice as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays rallied past the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep.

Dylan Carlson, who came from the Cardinals in a trade ahead of the deadline, also drove in two runs for Tampa Bay.

Rays starting pitcher Shane Baz allowed four runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two batters and struck out two.

Reliever Richard Lovelady (3-4) earned the victory, and Pete Fairbanks earned his 22nd save.

Outfielder Josh Lowe exited the game with a right knee contusion after fouling a pitch off of his leg in the first inning.

Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs for the Cardinals, and Nolan Arenado went 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI.

Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson allowed two runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Reliever JoJo Romero (5-2) took the loss.

Tampa Bay took a 2-0 first-inning lead. On the first two pitches of the game, Yandy Diaz hit a single off Gibson's foot, and Brandon Lowe sent him to third with a double.

Gibson struck out the next two batters, but Carlson lined a two-run single.

The Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Masyn Winn walked leading off and Baz hit Willson Contreras with a pitch with one out.

Arenado hit an RBI single, Brendan Donovan hit an RBI double, and Goldschmidt followed with a run-scoring groundout.

St. Louis increased its lead to 4-2 in the third inning. Arenado hit a two-out infield single, Donovan walked, and Goldschmidt lined an RBI single.

The Rays surged ahead 5-4 in the seventh inning against Kyle Leahy. Taylor Walls walked leading off, reached third on Curtis Mead's single and scored on Diaz's sacrifice fly.

Then Lowe launched his go-ahead two-run homer, giving him eight RBIs in his last five games.

Tampa Bay expanded its lead to 6-4 in the ninth when Walls hit a double and Jose Caballero followed with an RBI single.

--Field Level Media