Oneil Cruz homers, Brandon Lowe doubles twice against former team as Pirates top Rays

After one of the sloppiest performances of the season, Don Kelly promised that the Pittsburgh Pirates would play a cleaner game in the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Bubba Chandler backed up the Pirates manager by retiring 17 of the first 18 batters he faced, as the rookie right-hander allowed one run on three hits and a walk in six innings.

Oneil Cruz gave the Pirates the lead with a two-run home run in the sixth inning and Brandon Lowe finished off his former team with a two-run double in the eighth to lift the National League Central-leading Pirates to a 5-1 win over the American League East-leading Rays on Friday night before a SkyBlast crowd of 24,198 at PNC Park.

Lowe went 3 for 5 with two doubles against the Rays, with whom the two-time All-Star second baseman was drafted in the third round in 2015 and spent the first decade of his career before being acquired by the Pirates, along with outfielder Jake Mangum and left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery, in a three-team trade in December.

Chandler (1-1) earned a quality start when he allowed one run on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts over six innings, throwing 62 of his 90 pitches for strikes. The right-hander averaged 98.2 mph on 45 four-seam fastballs, drawing 24 swings and four called strikes. He touched triple digits three times.

The Pirates also got three-hit games from Marcell Ozuna and Spencer Horwitz, and both came through in the second inning. Ozuna led off the with a single under the glove of a sliding left fielder Chandler Simpson, advanced to second on a Nick Gonzales groundout to third and scored on Horwitz’s double to right field to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Konnor Griffin followed with a single to left but Horwitz was thrown out at home plate by Simpson.

The Pirates, who went 4 for 13 with runners in scoring position, stranded runners on second and third with a groundout and a popup in the third inning and left the bases loaded in the fourth, when Martinez escaped a jam by getting Lowe to hit a fly out to left.

Chandler retired the first seven batters he faced before Nick Fortes singled to right in the third inning. Chandler then retired the next 10 batters before giving up a single to Simpson with two outs in the sixth.

Chandler’s wild pitch up and in against Junior Caminero allowed Simpson to advance to second base, putting the Rays in scoring position for the first time. Caminero then hit a full-count fastball clocked at 100.2 mph to center to drive in Simpson and tie the game. After walking Jonathan Aranda on four pitches, Chandler prevented further damage by getting Yandy Diaz to pop up to first base.

The Pirates answered in the bottom of the sixth, when Horwitz hit a leadoff single but was forced out at second on Griffin’s grounder to third. Griffin stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored when Oneil Cruz sent a 2-2 sweeper low and away from Griffin Jax 385 feet to right field for his sixth home run and a 3-1 lead.

Montgomery replaced Chandler in the seventh and extended his scoreless streak to five consecutive appearances. Montgomery has nine strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings over that span, including two against his former team.

After Gregory Soto followed with a clean eighth, the Pirates drew back-to-back walks by Horwitz and Griffin off Yoendrys Gomez to start the bottom half of the inning. Billy Cook pinch-ran for Horwitz and stole second, and Henry Davis dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position.

After Cruz went down swinging, Lowe worked a full count over eight pitches, then smacked a fastball 397 feet off the center field wall for a double to score Cook and Griffin to give the Pirates a four-run lead. Dennis Santana gave up a double to Diaz and walked Ben Williamson before getting Cedric Mullins to pop up to first in foul territory to end it.