Brandon Lowe went 4-for-4 with an upper-deck solo home run, right-hander Taj Bradley extended his scoreless streak to 23 innings and the visiting Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 13-0 Thursday afternoon.
Brandon Lowe finished with three RBIs, Isaac Paredes had two hits and four RBIs and Alex Jackson added two hits and three RBIs for Tampa Bay in the rubber match of the three-game series.
The Rays scored a season high in runs to complete a 4-3 road trip. The Blue Jays dropped to 2-4 on their nine-game homestand.
In six innings, Bradley (6-4) allowed one walk and had seven strikeouts to win his fifth consecutive decision.
Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt (8-9) allowed three runs, five hits and one walk with six strikeouts in five innings.
Lowe hit his 12th homer of the season, a 414-foot blast to the 500 level in right on a 3-2 changeup with two outs in the first. He is the first player to hit a homer to the 500 level at Rogers Centre since he achieved the feat April 12, 2019.
The Rays added two runs in the third. Richie Palacios singled with one out and scored on Paredes’ double to the left field corner. Lowe followed with an RBI double to right. Bassitt hit Randy Arozarena on the helmet with a changeup but escaped the inning with two strikeouts.
The Rays added four runs in the sixth. Trevor Richards allowed a leadoff single to Amed Rosario, who stole second. Taylor Walls walked and Jonny DeLuca’s bloop single to left loaded the bases. Jackson hit a two-run single to center. A groundout moved the runners to second and third and Paredes drove them in with a single to left.
Tampa Bay poured it on with five runs in the seventh. Facing Ryan Burr, Rosario led off with a double, Walls walked with one out and Jackson hit an RBI double. After Palacios walked, Nate Pearson replaced Burr and walked Parades to force in a run. Brandon Lowe hit an RBI single to right, Arozarena hit a sacrifice fly to left and Josh Lowe hit a run-scoring single to make it 12-0.
Toronto third baseman Ernie Clement pitched the ninth and allowed two hits and a run.