TAMPA -- The Rays knew what they were up against Wednesday afternoon. Astros right-hander Hunter Brown has been one of the Majors’ most dominant starters this season, with six wins, an ERA lower than everyone but Max Fried and an arsenal full of devastating pitches.
The best way to beat him, the Rays figured, was to not let him settle in.
“He tells you, ‘Don't get deep,’ because he's got nasty stuff to put you away,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Our guys were ready to hit.”
Hitters said they didn’t necessarily talk before the game about swinging early against Brown, but they were indeed ready to hit. And they did exactly that all afternoon.
Curtis Mead, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe hit a trio of first-pitch homers off Brown, accounting for three of the five runs the right-hander allowed, and Yandy Díaz tacked on a three-run blast in the eighth (also on a first pitch) to seal an 8-4 win and a series victory over the Astros at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“Offensively, I think we did a pretty complete job of playing our game,” Josh Lowe said.
The last time the Rays hit three first-pitch homers in a game was July 2, 2022, in Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Blue Jays. They hadn’t gone deep on the first pitch four times in a game, as they wound up doing Wednesday, since count-specific data became available in 2000.
That aggressive approach served the Rays well against Brown, an early American League Cy Young candidate. After falling behind in the first inning on a two-run homer by Isaac Paredes, the Rays erased that deficit with run-scoring hits by Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson.
Energized by the fresh start, starter Taj Bradley settled down after the first inning and wound up striking out seven over six strong innings in his sixth quality start of the season. The response from the lineup and Bradley, manager Kevin Cash said, was the key to the game.
“They had my back coming into the bottom of the first and just tying the game back up, so now it's 0-0 again,” Bradley said. “Life's like a track. Sprint the straightaway, drive the curves. And after that, I was like, 'All right, I can settle in right here.’”
Brown seemed to settle in, too, retiring nine straight after a two-out walk to Kameron Misner in the first. But the Rays ran up his pitch count, and then, they pounced.
Thrust into the lineup at third base after Taylor Walls was scratched and José Caballero was moved to shortstop, Mead launched a first-pitch slider from Brown out to center field to put the Rays ahead in the fourth inning. It was Mead’s third career homer and his first since April 24, 2024.
Mead said he learned he was starting about 2 1/2 hours before first pitch, but he’d been preparing as if he would get into the game at some point. Still, it was a welcome surprise for the 24-year-old infielder, who also made a handful of slick plays at third base.
“It was special,” said Mead, who is 6-for-15 during a five-game hitting streak. “I feel like it was cool to kind of get the opportunity at the last minute and be able to take it.”
“He had a heck of a ballgame for a guy that wasn't coming to the ballpark thinking he was starting,” said Cash, who was ejected in the eighth inning after a heated argument with home-plate umpire Jim Wold. “[Bench coach Rodney Linares] made a joke after the home run that maybe anytime he plays, we shouldn't just tell him.”
The Rays jumped on Brown again in the fifth with their first back-to-back homers since July 27, 2024.
Leading off the inning, Josh Lowe hammered a first-pitch changeup a Statcast-projected 410 feet out to right-center field for his second home run. He was still taking off his gear in the dugout when he heard his teammates screaming. Brandon Lowe had lifted Brown’s next pitch, another first-pitch changeup, out to right and watched it sail over the fence for his eighth homer.
According to Statcast, the second home run had the highest launch angle (47 degrees) of any homer this season. Brown said he thought there was “no chance” of it getting out, but it did.
“It's pretty cool,” Josh Lowe said. “I think we were saying that's the first time we've gone back-to-back before, so Lowe and Lowe getting the job done there.”
The Rays needed those homers to withstand two Astros homers off reliever Edwin Uceta, and Díaz gave them some breathing room with a 435-foot shot off the batter’s eye against reliever Forrest Whitley that Lowe called “the dagger.”
Fittingly, it came on the first pitch.
“That's what good teams do. That's how you win ballgames,” Josh Lowe said. “You score early, you don't go quiet there, you score again, and you keep scoring more runs.”