Nate Lowe and Brandon Lowe each contributed RBI singles, and the visiting Tampa Bay Rays got strong pitching from starter Tyler Glasnow and the bullpen to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 on Friday night.
The Lowes came up with their run-scoring hits early in the game, and Glasnow and the bullpen made it stand up. Glasnow (4-1) has pitched well against Baltimore -- he entered 3-0 with a 2.12 ERA in five career starts against the Orioles -- and did so once more.
Glasnow gave up one run on four hits in five innings while striking out 10 and walking two.
As for the bullpen, manager Kevin Cash's four relief pitchers threw four shutout innings and kept the Orioles quiet. Tampa Bay (34-18) now has won the first three games of this five-game series.
Collectively, the Rays' bullpen quartet gave up just one hit over four innings, struck out four without a walk, and saw Ryan Sherriff work a perfect ninth for his first career save.
Baltimore starter Alex Cobb also threw well but didn't get much support from an offense that's struggled of late. Cobb (1-5) went six innings and allowed two runs on four hits but it wasn't enough against his former team.
Tampa Bay quickly took a 1-0 lead against Cobb on Nate Lowe's RBI single in the first. The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the second, but could not push across a run after Glasnow struck out Bryan Holaday and Andrew Velazquez and induced a fly out from Cedric Mullins.
The Rays moved the lead to 2-0 in the third on a Brandon Lowe's RBI single.
Baltimore (22-30) cut the lead to 2-1 when Austin Hays lined a solo homer to left to lead off the fourth. It was his second home run of the season; the first came earlier on an inside-the-park shot on Aug. 11.
But Baltimore couldn't do anything else the rest of the game and had just one baserunner after Hays' homer.
--Field Level Media
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
Tyler Glasnow | Player | Alex Cobb |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.0 | IP | 6.0 |
10 | Strikeouts | 5 |
4 | Hits | 4 |
1.80 | ERA | 3.00 |
Tampa Bay | Baltimore | |
Brandon Lowe | Player | Austin Hays |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 5 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |