KANSAS CITY —The second, and less hyped, meeting of the Lowe brothers starts Monday when Josh’s Rays visit Nathaniel’s Rangers.
Amid considerable fanfare, including the pre-game exchange of lineup cards and more than 100 relatives/friends in the stands, they squared off for the first time last month at Tropicana Field.
Because of the pitching matchups, Josh only started one of the three games, on June 10. Although the Rangers won the game, Josh won the sibling battle, going 2-for-4 compared to Nathaniel’s 0-for-3. Plus, he hit a single and got to hang out at first base with Nathaniel holding him on.
“I think it’s more go out there and play baseball this time,” Josh said. “And it’s still kind of cool that your brother is on the other team.”
With the Rangers starting three right-handers, Josh should get more opportunity. He hopes to again best his older brother, who was 1-for-10 in the three games at the Trop, and have the Rays win the series again.
“My thoughts are similar to the first time: Go out there and try and beat him, plain and simple,” Josh said.
Although only a handful of family members are expected, the brothers will be thrilled their mom, Wendy, will be there after a recent medical incident while at home in Orlando caused a scare.
“Absolutely,” Josh said. “Given what she went through last week and excited to see her out there and have us watch us. That’d be awesome.”
McClanahan to face Rangers
All-Star Shane McClanahan said he feels good as he is set to return from the injured list Monday and make his first start since June 30, when he had a recurrence of back tightness that cut short his June 22 outing as well.
“We’ve definitely put the work in, we’ve been smart about it and I’m excited to see what (Monday) brings,” he said.
McClanahan said he hopes the issue is now behind him. “It’s one of those things where I’m going to stay ahead of it, no matter what,” he said. “I incorporated some things from this into my normal routine, and hopefully continuing to do that allows me to put myself in the best possible situation.”
Hurry-up offense
At one hour and 54 minutes, Sunday’s game was the third-fastest nine-inning game in the majors this season and matched the second fastest in Rays franchise history. The two to go quicker this season were the April 18 Guardians-Tigers game that took 1:50, and a 1:51 Royals-Guardians matchup July 7. The only faster Rays game was a 1:53 tilt on Aug. 9, 2011, against the Royals. They also played 1:54 on June 8, 2003, at Houston and June 9, 2022, against St. Louis.
Chirinos’ role in question
Right-hander Yonny Chirinos’ role, and maybe even his spot on the roster, may be in question.
The Rays have to create room on the active roster Monday for McClanahan. Since they had Chirinos work 4 2/3 innings and throw 50 pitches Sunday, he now seems out of the mix to start or work bulk innings Wednesday, which could make him a prime candidate to go.
Because Chirinos has accumulated five years of big-league service time, he has to give his permission to be sent to the minors and can instead elect free agency.
Miscellaneous
All-Star first baseman Yandy Diaz, who was placed on the injured list Friday following the Wednesday birth of his first child, may rejoin the team Monday. … In going 0-for-4, Brandon Lowe saw a total of seven pitches, grounding out three times on the first pitch. … Manager Kevin Cash, on logging his 700th career win Saturday: “(I) get to work with a lot of good people, but most of the credit goes to the players. They’re the ones that are out there doing it on the field, getting it done every single day, so congrats to them.”
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