Brandon

Lowe

Lowe tagged left-hander Justin Wrobleski for a 383-foot (103.7-mph EV) two-run shot in the fifth inning that pulled the Pirates to within two runs at 5-2. He also drew a walk in the contest. The 31-year-old slugger has made a major impact in the Pirates’ lineup this season, slashing .249/.335/.523 with 16 homers and 45 RBI in 275 plate appearances.

Oneil Cruz is also back in center field and hitting sixth after a one-game absence due to a hand laceration. There was some serious initial concern after Lowe fouled a ball off his right leg during Saturday’s game against the Braves. However, he somehow managed to avoid serious injury. The 31-year-old veteran is back at second base and hitting second against Dodgers starter Eric Lauer on Tuesday night at PNC Park.

Lowe was pulled from Saturday’s game after he fouled a ball off of his leg in the ninth inning. The 31-year-old slugger told reporters on Sunday that he believes he avoided any serious injuries and is optimistic that he’ll be able to return to the lineup in a couple of days. As of now, it seems like he’ll be able to avoid a trip to the injured list after the scary situation on Saturday night.

Manager Don Kelly said there wasn’t any news in his interview after the game, and the Pirates haven’t revealed anything since, even though X-rays were surely long since taken. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad, but those forced to make a call on whether to start Lowe this week are in a bind. A Monday afternoon update seems likely.

Lowe was down for a few minutes and was helped off the field while putting very little weight on the leg, suggesting that this might be more than a day-to-day situation. If he’s forced to the IL, the Pirates would probably recall Nick Yorke to share time with Tyler Callahan at second.

Lowe smacked a one-out double off of Kei-Wei Teng in the top half of the first inning then scored the game’s first run on a two-out single off the bat of Ryan O’Hearn. He also doubled to open the sixth inning and scored on Bryan Reynolds’ RBI knock. Lowe has made a major impact to the Pirates’ lineup this season, slashing .257/.341/.532 with 15 homers and 40 RBI across his first 252 plate appearances.

Lowe was hitless through his first four at-bats before stepping to the plate with two runners on in the eighth. He took Bryan Abreu deep for a three-run blast to extend the Pirates’ lead. The 31-year-old second baseman is having an excellent season in Pittsburgh, leading the team with 15 homers while hitting .258/.343/.535 with 37 runs scored and 40 RBI across 242 plate appearances.

Lowe was mad about being denied a challenge (which would have been successful) and was tossed by the first base ump after flying out to conclude his at-bat. Tyler Callahan replaced him against the Twins.

Lowe was almost the entirety of the Pirates’ offense with a three-run shot in a game where they only scored four total. He’s now hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and both his 14 home runs and .914 OPS lead all second basemen by a wide margin. He appears to be something of a league-winner thus far.

Lowe singled in the first inning and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Horwitz to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. He would later come around to score again in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Bryan Reynolds and has now hit safely in five-straight games while batting .412 over that span. Lowe has been swinging a hot bat all month, slashing .279/.383/.574 while also slugging four homers.