Brandon Lowe approached Don Kelly in the Pirates' dugout midway through the 3-2 loss to the Braves and let Kelly know he's "good to go whenever" if needed to pinch-hit.
Lowe was less than 24 hours removed from a scary-looking knee injury in Saturday's loss, fouling a ball into his right knee in the ninth inning.
The imaging on Lowe's knee came back negative for any real damage, and so it was just a matter of managing pain and swelling. He used compression boots for about an hour after Saturday's game, then three times early Sunday.
"Before ground balls we went out and did some running drills, some dynamic kind of movements, and all that kind of stuff felt great," Lowe said.
Lowe pinch-hit to lead off the ninth, and he doubled to right field before Oneil Cruz came in to pinch-run. Jake Mangum's single had Cruz as the tying run on third, but Jared Triolo popped out and Endy Rodriguez struck out.
"Huge after last night," Kelly said of Lowe being available to bat. "He came up with a big hit. We had Cruz ready to run. We have to find a way to be better with runners in scoring position."
Ben Cherington said Sunday of Lowe that they're "hopeful that we’ll see him back in there against the Dodgers at some point" in the Pirates' next series after Monday's day off.
"This off day lining up the way that it is is probably the best timing I could have ever hoped for following something like this," Lowe said. "Hopefully my kids take it easy on me tomorrow and we show up on Tuesday ready to rock."
THE ASYLUM
Lowe comes up big with hit after injury
Brandon Lowe approached Don Kelly in the Pirates' dugout midway through the 3-2 loss to the Braves and let Kelly know he's "good to go whenever" if needed to pinch-hit.
Lowe was less than 24 hours removed from a scary-looking knee injury in Saturday's loss, fouling a ball into his right knee in the ninth inning.
The imaging on Lowe's knee came back negative for any real damage, and so it was just a matter of managing pain and swelling. He used compression boots for about an hour after Saturday's game, then three times early Sunday.
"Before ground balls we went out and did some running drills, some dynamic kind of movements, and all that kind of stuff felt great," Lowe said.
Lowe pinch-hit to lead off the ninth, and he doubled to right field before Oneil Cruz came in to pinch-run. Jake Mangum's single had Cruz as the tying run on third, but Jared Triolo popped out and Endy Rodriguez struck out.
"Huge after last night," Kelly said of Lowe being available to bat. "He came up with a big hit. We had Cruz ready to run. We have to find a way to be better with runners in scoring position."
Ben Cherington said Sunday of Lowe that they're "hopeful that we’ll see him back in there against the Dodgers at some point" in the Pirates' next series after Monday's day off.
"This off day lining up the way that it is is probably the best timing I could have ever hoped for following something like this," Lowe said. "Hopefully my kids take it easy on me tomorrow and we show up on Tuesday ready to rock."
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