Blue Jays opponent hits homer into Rogers Centre upper deck

Next time the Toronto Blue Jays face off against Brandon Lowe at the Rogers Centre, they might want to avoid pitching his way.

In the first inning of an afternoon game in Toronto, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt fired in an 84-mile-per-hour pitch just inside the strike zone to Lowe.

With a 3-2 count and two outs, Bassitt was one pitch away from getting out of the inning unscathed.

But Lowe had other plans.

He connected with every part of the baseball, skyrocketing it 414 feet into the upper right field deck at the Rogers Centre, marking it as one of the highest balls ever hit in the building’s 35-year history.

Upper deck!

Brandon Lowe just took Chris Bassitt 414 feet to right field, into the 500 Level. #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/hIi4kIDaVJ

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) July 25, 2024

As per the Associated Press’ Ian Harrison, Lowe is one of 18 players to reach the upper deck at the Rogers Centre with a home run, and one of just four players to accomplish the feat twice (or more), along with Jose Canseco, Josh Phelps, and Edwin Encarnacion.

Interestingly enough, Lowe was actually the last player to reach the upper deck at the Jays’ stadium, doing so a little over five years ago back in April of 2019.

Tampa Bay's Brandon Lowe is the first player to HR into the 500 level in Toronto since… (drum roll)…Tampa Bay's Brandon Lowe on April 12, 2019. Lowe joins Jose Canseco and Josh Phelps as guys with consecutive entries on this list of 18 players and (now) 23 500 level HRs. pic.twitter.com/K85OnjsBbZ

— Ian Harrison (@iananywhere) July 25, 2024

And perhaps even MORE interestingly, Lowe hit one in the exact same game as his teammate Austin Meadows, who hit one off what had to be one of the most demoralizing outings of Trent Thornton’s career with the Blue Jays.

Trent Thornton gave up two 500 level homers in the same inning in 2019 💀 pic.twitter.com/Dy1WVm1F6a

— Avery Chenier (@AveryChenier) July 25, 2024

Lowe’s homer today also broke another statistical tie, as 11 of the 23 home runs hitting the upper deck have been hit by Blue Jays players, in comparison to 12 for their opponents.

The Tampa Bay Rays carried a 7-0 lead over the Jays at press time.

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