Junior Caminero turned a tight ninth inning into another October-flavored celebration Tuesday night, drilling a walk-off homer to right as the Rays beat the A’s 2-1 in St. Petersburg.
SEO Title: Junior Caminero Walks Off A’s Again as Rays Hold AL East Lead
SEO Description: Junior Caminero hit his AL-leading 41st home run, a ninth-inning walk-off against the A’s, as Tampa Bay won 2-1 and stayed 3 1/2 games ahead in the AL East.
Junior Caminero delivers another walk-off for Tampa Bay
The result
Caminero’s first walk-off homer arrived Friday night and secured Tampa Bay’s first postseason berth since 2023. Five days later, the 23-year-old third baseman supplied an encore.
The score was even in the bottom of the ninth when A’s reliever Elvis Alvarado came after Caminero with premium heat. Caminero watched a 100.2 mph fastball for strike one, fouled away a slider, then got another fastball at 100.4 mph in nearly the same location. This time he sent it screaming inside the right-field line and over the fence.
It was Caminero’s American League-leading 41st homer and his second walk-off blast of the season. The Rays remained 3 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East race with the win.
Manager Kevin Cash has watched Caminero embrace big stages since seeing him perform for the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic in March. Cash said at the time that the Rays needed to get Caminero into the postseason, believing the young slugger would only get better as the spotlight grew.
That prediction has looked pretty good lately.
“He is unbelievable,” Cash said. “He comes alive when the game matters most, and he celebrates those moments as hard as anybody.”
Caminero paused out of the box to watch the drive, stared toward the Rays’ dugout as he moved down the first-base line, then finally flipped the bat away and began his trip home. Before leaving first base, he told the teammates gathering near the plate to give him a little time.
His 40.65-second circuit was the slowest Statcast had tracked on an uncontested home-run trot. By the time he reached home, Tampa Bay players were waiting with gum and a full-scale mob.
Left fielder Chandler Simpson called Caminero the club’s centerpiece and said his teammate has repeatedly delivered in the moments the Rays need most. Simpson added that he told Caminero two months ago he believed he would win the American League MVP Award.
Caminero has made that argument increasingly difficult to ignore, but his immediate focus is October.
“I want to be playing in October,” Caminero said. “The energy changes, the fans change, and we have to get there. We feel ready.”
Tuesday could have been remembered as a frustrating night instead. In the first inning, Caminero hit a ball to center field at 107 mph with a 29-degree launch angle. The projected distance was 409 feet, a ball Tampa Bay believed had home-run characteristics. Henry Bolte made the catch just in front of the wall, leaving Caminero stunned as he returned to the dugout.
The later swing erased that disappointment.
“God’s plan is perfect,” Caminero said. “If the first one goes out, maybe the last one does not.”
He became the fifth player in Rays history with two walk-off homers in one season. Brandon Lowe was the previous Tampa Bay player to do it, in 2023. Caminero is also the first Ray to produce multiple walk-off homers during one homestand.
The most recent Major Leaguer with two walk-off shots in the same homestand was Baltimore’s Colton Cowser, who did it in consecutive games on May 24 and 25.
The rotation next
Griffin Jax gave Tampa Bay five scoreless innings, keeping the A’s in check long enough for Caminero to settle the game late. Jax said Caminero feeds off the moment and the crowd’s energy, adding that he is eager to see what the slugger looks like with the whole baseball world watching in October.
Cash said those pressure at-bats are valuable preparation for postseason baseball. Caminero is already getting the kind of late-game reps that can shape a playoff run, and the Rays have watched him come through in increasingly loud fashion.
