Junior Caminero hits 7th HR in 6 games, Rays end 1st half in 1st place

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Jun 28, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — Junior Caminero homered in his fourth straight game and for the seventh time in a week as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 Sunday. They completed the first half of their season where they hoped to finish: leading the American League East.

Caminero’s homer, his 22nd overall and a career-long 463 feet, and a first-inning RBI single were just part of the Rays’ strong overall performance in winning their fifth straight game and improving to 48-33, remaining at least percentage points ahead of the New York Yankees, who play later Sunday.

Cedric Mullins and Ben Williamson also homered. Yandy Diaz scored one run and drove in another. And Drew Rasmussen delivered another strong start with six no-run, three-hit innings, improving to an All-Star caliber 7-4 record and 2.45 ERA (second best in the AL).

The Rays improved their home record to 31-12 while posting their fifth winning streak of at least five games this season and their ninth sweep (seventh at Tropicana Field), all most in the majors.

Not all the news was good, however, as Diaz, who leads the AL with a .336 average, left the game with what the team said was a left shoulder strain and was day-to-day. The Rays are off Monday then resume play Tuesday in Kansas City.

Diaz appeared to agitate the shoulder, which has been an occasional issue and he often has wrapped, during his fifth-inning at-bat. He was pinch hit for in the seventh.

The Rays grabbed the early lead as Diaz led off with a single and scored on Caminero’s single. They made it 3-0 in the second when Mullins, continuing his improved play, led off with a home run, then Taylor Walls singled with one out, went to third on Nick Fortes’ singled and scored on a sac fly by Diaz.

That was Diaz’s 449th RBI with the Rays, tying him with Aubrey Huff for fifth place on the franchise all-time list. Carlos Pena is fourth at 468.

Caminero’s blast to center with two outs in the fifth was his sixth homer in four games and seventh in six. It extended the lead to 4-0, and Williamson made it 5-0 in the fifth with his second homer.

The Rays were pitching a shutout until Arizona’s Ketel Marte opened the eighth with a homer off reliever Garrett Cleavinger.

Monday is the Rays’ lone day off in a 24-day stretch leading up to the July 13-16 All-Star break.

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