ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Josh Lowe hit a tiebreaking. two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 on Thursday for a three-game sweep.
Luke Raley and Isaac Paredes also homered for Tampa Bay, which began the day two games back of Baltimore in the AL East but in a position for a wild card.
Lowe’s 17th homer was the longest of the three at 452 feet.
“It’s pretty cool but they all count the same,” he said.
Tampa Bay has won four straight games and six of seven.
“I’d rather just win without coming back, just get the lead in the first and keep it the whole way, but you take wins however you can get them,” manager Kevin Cash said.
The Rays came from behind in all three of their wins against the Rockies, rallying with a nine-run eighth inning on Tuesday and winning in the 10th the following day.
“We’re going to need games like this in the postseason,” Lowe said, “and this is a good time to practice it.”
Colorado has lost four in a row and dropped to 20-46 on the road to go along with a 28-33 record at Coors Field. With three more losses the Rockies would ensure their fifth straight losing season.
With the score 3-3, Lowe followed Randy Arozarena’s infield single with his 17th homer, a drive off Matt Koch (2-2).
Jason Adam (4-2) struck out five of six batters and Pete Fairbanks struck out three around a single in the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances.
Rockies starter Peter Lambert gave up two runs and four hits and struck out six in five innings He threw 99 pitches, matching his career high from July 23, 2019.
“I thought I made a lot of good pitches early, and they just battled, fouled some pitches off, got deep into counts,” Lambert said. “Sure enough, my pitch count was up pretty quickly.”
Raley hit his 18th homer in the second, then tripled and scored on Osleivis Basabe’s single in the fourth.
Nolan Jones hit a three-run homer in the fifth against Erasmo Ramirez, Jones’ 13th home run this season. Paredes hit his 26th homer in the sixth against Tommy Doyle.
Jones had three hits in his 17th multi-hit game of the season.
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz went 0 for 4, ending a streak of six straight multi-hit games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: INF Taylor Walls, on the injured list since July 22 with a left oblique strain, will play two to four rehab games at Triple-A Durham before returning to the active roster next week.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (5-3, 5.02) opens a series at Baltimore on Friday.
Rays: RHP Zach Eflin (13-7, 3.58) is to face New York Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (104, 3.03) on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
