All-Star B. Lowe, Rays hopeful for 'very short' IL stint with left oblique tightness

BOSTON -- After four days of waiting and hoping that Brandon Lowe would recover quickly enough to finish the first half healthy, the Rays placed their All-Star second baseman on the 10-day injured list due to left oblique tightness on Friday.

The Rays recalled infielder Curtis Mead from Triple-A Durham before the second game of their series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The timing of the injury is especially unfortunate for Lowe, as he had been hoping to participate in the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard on Tuesday at Truist Park. Instead, he was replaced on the American League roster by Royals infielder Maikel Garcia. But he still plans to take the trip with his family and participate in the non-game All-Star festivities in Atlanta.

“As much as you want to play in the All-Star Game, that's one game versus what we can achieve at the end of the year,” Lowe said.

This is the second time in his career that Lowe has been named an All-Star but not been able to participate in the Midsummer Classic. He was sidelined by a right shin bruise when he made the AL squad as a rookie in 2019.

“It sucks. There's no true way around it, but I'll be thankful to my peers that voted me in. It's a huge deal, and it was a huge honor,” Lowe said. “It just didn't seem like [it was] the right thing to try to force it and play through any sort of discomfort when you can take that time to make sure that it's right and give these guys that are in this clubhouse everything that I can.”

Lowe sustained the oblique injury last Sunday at Target Field, when he exited the Rays’ 7-5, 10-inning win over the Twins in the bottom of the third inning. Lowe and manager Kevin Cash initially downplayed the severity of the injury, with Lowe calling it “very precautionary” and Cash describing his status as “day to day.”

Lowe said “nothing’s gotten worse” in his recovery, and he is still trending in the right direction after taking swings in the batting cage and fielding ground balls on Thursday afternoon. He said he felt good in practice, but he wasn’t fully confident he would feel the same in a game. And he couldn’t get last year’s right oblique strain, which cost him six weeks, off his mind.

Lowe said he had a conversation about his status with Cash and head athletic trainer Joe Benge on Thursday night, and they made the decision on Friday morning to put him on the IL.

“You want to participate in every game that you can,” Lowe said. “But with the [All-Star] break coming, with everything else, it just didn't seem like it was the smart decision to try to push it for an extra three games versus making sure that it's good, making sure that it's 100% coming back first day after the break, and picking up where we left off and trying to get as many games under my belt versus missing time like last year.”

Lowe said he will dial back his pregame work this weekend, cutting back on his swings and throwing. But he will stay active in the trainer’s room and the weight room, using what he learned from last year’s injury to get back to full strength.

With his IL stint backdated to Tuesday, Lowe said he plans to return when eligible on July 18, when the Rays open their second-half schedule at George M. Steinbrenner Field against the Orioles. Cash said that is the team’s hope as well, but they’ll have to see how Lowe feels after the All-Star break.

“Hopefully, it's a very short, close-to-minimum [IL stint]. We're still not out of the woods yet,” Cash said. “I want to make sure he's totally good, but where we were [and the] timeframe with the All-Star break coming, [it] felt like this made the most sense.

“Disappointed for him. I know he wanted to play in the game, but applaud Brandon for understanding we need him to play for us.”

Losing Lowe is another tough blow for a Rays team that entered Friday having lost nine of its past 13 games. The slugging second baseman played a huge part in Tampa Bay’s 25-9 stretch from May 20 to June 26, and overall, he is slashing .272/.324/.487 with 19 homers and 50 RBIs in 84 games.

With Lowe on the bench the past four days, the Rays have used infielders José Caballero and Taylor Walls at second base. Mead will also be an option around the infield, if needed, as he’s back in the big leagues eight days after being optioned to Triple-A to make room for shortstop Ha-Seong Kim.

Caballero made the start at second on Friday night, with Walls at shortstop and Kim getting the night off.