The Rays answered two first-inning Angels home runs with three runs in the bottom of the first, then got a solid effort from an ensemble of pitchers for a wild 4-3 triumph Friday before a Tropicana Field crowd of 7,909.
“This is a special job to have,” the 43-year-old Gaither High alumnus and Tampa native said.
Preceding Lowe were consecutive walks drawn by Diaz and Ji-Man Choi, setting up Austin Meadows’ high, one-out pop-up to shallow left that fell between a triangle of Angels players to load the bases.
“It’s a play we should have made, I don’t deny that,” Maddon said.
I heard him call it, and I’m not sure what happened after.
Angels resident pitcher-slugger Shohei Ohtani sent Rays opener Andrew Kittredge’s third pitch deep to rightfield, where it hit a D-ring catwalk en route to a 453-foot home run.
The Rays scored three in the bottom half off 25-year-old right-hander Griffin Canning, who allowed a leadoff single to Diaz before walking Choi.
Collin McHugh allowed only one hit over 1⅓ innings, Matt Wisler pitched a perfect eighth, and Diego Castillo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
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