Brandon Lowe homers as Rays beat Nationals, 4-1

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Aug 29, 2025

Published in Baseball

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WASHINGTON — Though the Rays have little chance to pile up enough wins to make the playoffs, there are still some individual numbers some of their players are aiming for.

Such as Brandon Lowe and 30 home runs.

Lowe on Friday went deep for the 27th time this season, giving the Rays an early lead they rode to a 4-1 victory over the Nationals, improving to 65-69.

Lowe homered in back-to-back games for the fifth time this season.

With 28 games remaining, he has a reasonable shot to get to 30 for the second time in his eight seasons with the Rays. He hit a career-high 39 in 2021.

Lowe’s two-run homer in the first came after Yandy Diaz singled with two outs against Washington starter Mitchell Parker.

The Nationals halved the margin in the bottom of the first as Adrian Houser got off to a shaky start, walking leadoff man James Wood then giving up a single to CJ Abrams. An infield out moved the runners, and Luis Garcia Jr.’s sacrifice fly made it 2-1.

Thanks to some good defense by rookie left fielder Chandler Simpson — capped by a spectacular diving catch with two on and two outs in the third — and a huge strikeout by Houser of Abrams, the Rays held the lead through four innings.

They added to it in the fifth when Everson Pereira, a July 31 trade acquisition from the Yankees, hit his first big league home run. Pereira, 24, played 27 games with New York in 2023; Friday was his 12th with the Rays.

The Nationals threatened in the seventh when Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger put the first two on — walking Wood and giving up a single to Abrams — but then struck out the next three: Josh Bell, pinch-hitter Andrés Chaparro and Riley Adams.

Houser, also a July 31 trade pickup, worked just four innings, allowing six hits and three walks but only the one run, throwing 86 pitches to get the 12 outs.

He finished on a good note after loading the bases in the fourth by getting Abrams looking at a strike-three sinker.

The Rays extended their lead to 4-1 on an RBI single by Simpson in the ninth.

Closer Pete Fairbanks, who blew a ninth-inning lead Wednesday at Cleveland, allowed two, two-out hits in the ninth Friday before securing his 23rd save of the season and 86th with the Rays, breaking a tie with Fernando Rodney for third on the all-time franchise list.