ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Josh Lowe made all the blooper reels on Thursday when he lost a fly ball in the sun in Baltimore and it hit him in the head. Trey Mancini of the Orioles wound up getting an inside-the-park home run out of it.
But on Friday night, inside the cozy confines of Tropicana Field, Josh Lowe did much better. With no sun in his eyes, he easily caught a fly ball to end the first inning — and was able to laugh about it!
After making the catch, he pumped both fists and shared a laugh with the guys in the Rays' bullpen. And he was all smiles when he got to the dugout, too. The video is priceless.
On Thursday in Baltimore, the Rays were trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning with one out and a runner on second. Mancini launched a fly ball to right that looked like an easy play for Lowe, but at the last second, he lost it in the sun. The ball hit himn in the face and caromed away. It turned into an inside-the-park homer in the Rays' 3-0 loss.
“I went back to the spot where I thought the ball was going to be, saw it when it probably got to the apex,’’ Lowe said. “Then when it started to come down, I kind of went palms up there for a second. I didn’t see the ball on the way down at all.
“It got me pretty good right in the face. I'm just more embarrassed more than anything.’’
Lowe made another nice catch to end the third inning on Friday.
More must-reads: