Brandon Lowe hits 2-run homer as Rays beat Rockies 6-4

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first and the Tampa Bay Rays never trailed Sunday in their 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Taj Bradley (1-0) pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts for the Rays and Jonny DeLuca went 3 for 4. Pete Fairbanks, who had 48 saves in 56 opportunities over the past two season, allowed two hits with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth and earned his first save of the season.

Pinch hitter Mickey Moniak hit a two-out two-run homer in the top of the seventh for the Rockies. Nick Martini hit an RBI single in the fifth and Hunter Goodman's single in the top of the sixth drove in Tyler Freeman to make it 2-2.

Tampa Bay's José Caballero went 1 for 3 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored — beating a late tag by catcher Jacob Stallings.

Jonathan Aranda scored when Junior Caminero hit a single up the middle to give the Rays the lead for good at 3-2 and spark a four-run bottom of the sixth inning.

The Rays are one of three teams (Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels) in MLB with three quality starts in the first three games of the season.

Former All-Star Germán Márquez, who missed most of the past two seasons due to an elbow injury, pitches Monday as the Rockies begin a three-game set against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Drew Rasmussen takes the mound for the Rays on Monday in the first of three home games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, center, celebrates with teammates after the team defeated the Colorado Rockies during a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Colorado Rockies third base Ryan McMahon, left, tags out Tampa Bay Rays' José Caballero after he was cuaght stealing during the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Colorado Rockies' Mickey Moniak (22) celebrates his two-run home off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Kevin Kelly with Nick Martini (35) during the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jonny DeLuca (21) steals second base ahead of the throw to Colorado Rockies second baseman Tyler Freeman (2) during the xxx inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Colorado Rockies' Tyler Freeman, left, winces in pain as he is looked at by a team trainer and manager Bud Black (10) after being hit by a pitch from Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Taj Bradley during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman (15) runs the bases after his RBi single off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Taj Bradley during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' José Caballero, left, scores ahead of the tag by Colorado Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings on a fielder'c choice by Ben Rortvedt during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda, center, celebrates in the dugout after scoring on an RBI single by Junior Caminero against the Colorado Rockies during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero celebrates as he scores on a bunt single by José Caballero to Colorado Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings during the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe (8) celebrates his two-run home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner with, from left, Rodney Linares, Junior Caminero, and Christopher Morel during the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe runs around the bases following his two-run home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner during the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 116 and over 2,600 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of previous unrest in Iran.

Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation, without discussing dead demonstrators, whom it increasingly refers to as “terrorists." However, it also acknowledged protests went on into Sunday morning, with demonstrations in Tehran and in the holy city of Mashhad to the northeast.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”

U.S. President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, reporting citing anonymous U.S. officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but hadn't made a final decision.

The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marked the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran's 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

It also repeatedly aired video of purported protesters shooting at security forces with firearms.

In one online video verified by The Associated Press, protesters demonstrated Friday in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as “operational terrorist teams.” It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Online video purported to show protests ongoing Saturday night as well.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

Airlines have canceled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.

Meanwhile, concern is growing that the internet shutdown will allow Iran's security forces to go on a bloody crackdown, as they have in other rounds of demonstrations. Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest “so we can only fear the worst.”

“They are fighting, and losing their lives, against a dictatorial regime,” Rahmani said.

Associated Press writers Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows a fire as people protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from a video released Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a man holding a device to document burning vehicles during a night of mass protests in Zanjan, Iran. (Iranian state TV via AP)