The Tampa Bay Rays’ current surge of success began with two straight home victories over Kansas City last week.
With hot-hitting Junior Caminero leading the way, the Rays look for a sixth consecutive win in the opener of their three-game road set against the Royals on Tuesday night.
After taking two of three from Washington to open a recent 10-game homestand, Tampa Bay dropped the first two of its four-game set with Kansas City. Then, the Rays posted a 33-9 run advantage while winning the final five to split with the Royals and sweep Arizona. That run has moved the Rays back atop the American League East, a game ahead of the New York Yankees before Monday’s games.
Caminero went 11-for-22 with seven home runs and 15 RBIs in the final six games of the home stretch. Six of those hits — including four home runs — came in the last three against the Royals. This included a three-homer, six-RBI effort during the Rays’ 13-2 victory Thursday.
On Sunday, the 22-year-old Caminero, who has homered in four straight contests, crushed a 463-foot solo shot — the longest homer of his career — during Tampa Bay’s 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
“Special player doing special things,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Caminero, a first-time All-Star in 2025 who has 22 home runs and 49 RBIs in 81 games this year.
“I mean, he came into his own here on this homestand where he’s really seeing the ball well, getting pitches he can handle, and not missing them and hitting them a long way.”
Caminero is 0-for-4 against scheduled Royals starter Noah Cameron (4-5, 4.50 ERA). However, he walked twice against the second-year left-hander during the Rays’ 5-3 victory Wednesday.
Cameron allowed five runs, eight hits and walked three over five innings in that contest. He’s posted a 7.53 ERA in his last three starts.
“I think that’s just part of baseball, part of pitching,” said Cameron, who owned a 2.99 ERA in 24 2025 starts to finish fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
“Hopefully, the tides will turn, but we’ve just got to keep pitching and just focusing on what we can control.”
After opening their seven-game road trip with those two victories over Tampa Bay, the Royals lost four straight before a 5-4 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Kansas City’s Carter Jensen had three hits with two RBIs in that game. He’s batting .351 with 17 RBIs and 15 runs scored during a 19-game hitting streak.
Jensen went 1-for-2 with a walk against scheduled Rays starter Griffin Jax (3-5, 3.33) when he opposed Cameron last week. Continuing to be stretched out as a starter, the right-hander allowed five hits and two walks, but only two unearned runs and seven strikeouts over that five-inning performance.
Jax has yielded five runs — two earned — and fanned 21 over 20 innings while 2-1 in his last four starts.
Budding Kansas City star and Tampa native Jac Caglianone went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts versus Jax last week. However, it’s uncertain if Caglianone, batting .322 with nine homers in 24 June games, will be available after being scratched from Sunday’s lineup with groin soreness,
Meanwhile, the Rays hope star Yandy Diaz, with a major league-leading .336 batting average, will be ready after he exited Sunday’s contest with a left shoulder strain.
“I feel like I’ll be ready,” Diaz, who went 6-for-14 versus Kansas City last week, told the Rays’ official website.
Tampa Bay has lost 11 of its last 13 on the road. However, the Royals are in the midst of a 6-13 home stretch.
–Field Level Media
