Lowe, Carlson spark Rays to a 6-4 victory over Cardinals to avoid a sweep

ST. LOUIS (AP) Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and former Cardinal Dylan Carlson drove in two runs to help the Tampa Bay Rays avoid a series sweep by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Thursday night.

Lowe has hit seven home runs, nine doubles and has 18 RBIs in his last 26 games. He has driven in a run in five consecutive games, tying a career high.

“You have to understand it's a very difficult game at times,” Lowe said. “It's a very fun game at other times. Never think you know too much or that you've got it figured out.”

Ben Rortvedt added three hits for the Rays.

Nolan Arenado drove in a run, scored twice and had three hits for St. Louis. Arenado is 12 for 30 in August with three doubles and six RBIs. Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs for the Cardinals.

“This is a frustrating one. I feel like we played a pretty clean game,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. "We took some really good at-bats, especially giving up two in the first and then coming right back. Sometimes baseball just happens.”

Richard Lovelady (3-4) pitched one inning for the win and Pete Fairbanks, a St. Louis native who pitched at Missouri, pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 opportunities.

“I treated it like it's any other place,” Fairbanks said about pitching at Busch Stadium where he threw in high school and college. “I was thinking to myself if I'm getting in this game we've got to score five runs and then Lowe hits a pop. So, I'll take it. I think I would have been frustrated if I hadn't gotten to pitch here. So, it's nice to put an ‘S’ in the record book.”

JoJo Romero (5-2) took the loss.

Kyle Gibson pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk.

Shane Baz threw 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on six hits and two walks.

The Rays scored three runs in the seventh. Yandy Díaz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Lowe's homer that just cleared the wall and the glove of leaping center fielder Victor Scott II.

“Every single part of me just went straight to the worse,” said Lowe, who moved into third place in Rays history with 119 career homers. “I was pretty happy when I saw the umpire signal. It all worked out.”

Tampa Bay added a run in the ninth on José Caballero's single.

Arenado and Brendan Donovan had run-scoring hits as St. Louis took a 3-2 lead in the first. Goldschmidt drove in a run with a two-out single in the third.

Carlson drove in two runs with a two-out single to right in the first.

“It definitely felt good to come through with runners in scoring position," he said. “We wanted this one.”

The Rays were 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position in the previous two games.

“That would have been a real frustrating first inning if we had not capitalized on getting runners on second and third with no outs,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “That was big hit that set a tone for us.”

TRANSACTIONS

The Rays optioned RHP Hunter Bigge to Triple-A Durham.

TRAINING ROOM

Rays: LF Josh Lowe (right knee contusion) left the game after the top of the first. He fouled a ball off his right leg before striking out. Kameron Misner, a Missouri native, replaced him. … Reinstated LHP Richard Lovelady (left forearm flexor strain) from the 15-day IL.

Cardinals: RHP Riley O’Brien (right forearm flexor strain) tossed a scoreless inning Wednesday at Triple-A Memphis. He threw 10 pitches.

UP NEXT

Rays: RHP Zack Littell (5-7, 4.06) against visiting Baltimore RHP Zach Eflin (7-7, 4.05) on Friday.

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (8-9, 5.12) against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-6, 3.69) in Kansas City on Friday.

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