Junior Caminero belted his 29th and 30th home runs of the season, Christopher Morel delivered a late go-ahead blast, and six Tampa Bay pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts as the Rays edged the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Caminero opened the scoring with a towering 447-foot, two-run shot in the first inning — the longest of his career — and added a solo homer in the third for his third multi-homer game. Morel, hitless in the series and mired in a 0-for-6 skid with six strikeouts, broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh with a solo home run.
Nick Fortes also went deep, his first hit in five games since joining the Rays from Miami. Starter Shane Baz struck out nine in four innings, while Garrett Cleavinger (1-4) earned the win and Pete Fairbanks closed it out for his 19th save.
Mike Trout supplied the most significant swing for Los Angeles, blasting a three-run homer in the third inning — his 20th of the season and 398th of his career. The milestone shot was also his 200th at Angel Stadium, making him the first player in MLB history to record 200 homers and 100 steals (101) in the same ballpark.
The Angels nearly stole the game in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs against Griffin Jax, who was making his Tampa Bay debut after being acquired from Minnesota. But Jax escaped the jam by striking out the next three hitters.
Rays center fielder Jonny DeLuca, recently activated from the 60-day IL, exited in the sixth with right hamstring tightness after tripling.
Key Moment:
Jax’s three consecutive strikeouts with the bases loaded in the eighth preserved Tampa Bay’s one-run lead.
Key Stat:
Caminero reached 101 career RBIs with his two-homer performance.
Up Next:
After a day off on Thursday, the Angels send Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 4.59 ERA) to the mound Friday in Detroit against Tarik Skubal (11-3, 2.18 ERA). The Rays will open a series in Seattle with Drew Rasmussen (9-5, 2.81 ERA) facing Luis Castillo (8-6, 3.22 ERA).
