CLEVELAND (AP) — Brandon Lowe homered, Tampa Bay's bullpen held Cleveland to one hit over seven scoreless innings and the Rays snapped a three-game losing streak on a rugged trip with a 5-2 win over the AL Central-leading Guardians on Thursday night.
Lowe connected for his 18th homer in the first inning off Gavin Williams (3-9).
The Rays were swept earlier this week in a three-game series at NL East-leading Philadelphia. They improved to 3-4 on the 10-game trip, which started in AL East-leading Baltimore and finishes Sunday in Cleveland.
When it ends, Tampa Bay will be the first major league team to face three division leaders on the same trip in September or later.
“I didn't know that. We’ll have to talk to MLB about the (bleeping) schedules," manager Kevin Cash said with a laugh.
“There’s been plenty of challenges and this team is no different than the other two that we faced in Philly and Baltimore," Cash added. "But nice to get a bounce-back win. We had some tight ballgames that right at the end didn’t go our way.”
Tampa Bay's bullpen made this win possible.
Cole Sulser (1-0) took over for Rays starter Ryan Pepiot in the third and pitched three hitless innings, striking out a career-high four. Three more Tampa relievers went an inning each before Richard Lovelady worked the ninth for his second save.
Sulser also pitched a career-best in innings and recorded his first win since he was with Miami in 2022. The right-hander came to Tampa Bay in July via trade from the New York Mets.
“Happy to be able to contribute,” said Sulser, who has been used in a variety of roles.
Cash said he pulled Pepiot early because his velocity was down and he wants to make sure he finishes the season strong. Pepiot was initially surprised he got lifted, but later understood the logic.
“Velo was down a little and they made the decision," Pepiot said. "It was probably the right one. Credit to those guys for shutting them down for seven scoreless and keeping us in the ballgame and picking me up for not being able to do my job today.”
The Guardians missed a chance to increase their division lead over idle second-place Kansas City.
Cash was back in the dugout from serving a one-game suspension after Rays pitcher Edwin Uceta intentionally threw at Philadelphia's Nick Castellanos. Uceta missed his second game.
Lane Thomas, who struggled in his first month after coming to Cleveland in a trade, drove in the Guardians' first run with a two-out double in the first.
Thomas has been the AL's hottest hitter in September, and the double pushed his average to .421 this month and bumped his overall average to .248 — a 17-point jump in 11 games.
Williams, who didn't get out of the first inning in his previous start against the Dodgers. allowed Lowe's homer but settled in and allowed seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
“They were hitting his fastball hard because he was behind in the count,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Those were when most of their hard hit balls were when he was behind the count.”
NEW MAN(AGER)
Cash couldn't keep a straight face when asked what it was like to look over at Cleveland's dugout and not see former manager Terry Francona.
“Awesome,” Cash said, breaking into laughter when talking about his close friend, who retired following last season. “I miss him. The game misses him. He's healthy and doing well.”
Cash played for Francona in Boston and was his bullpen coach with Cleveland.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (right thigh bruise) is moving better and less sore after being struck with a hard comebacker in Chicago on Tuesday. Lively is scheduled to throw a bullpen Friday and is on track to start Sunday's series finale.
UP NEXT
Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (11-7, 3.56 ERA) starts Friday against Zach Littell (6-9, 3.89), who is 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 10 career appearances against Cleveland.
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