ST. PETERSBURG -- Can anyone stop Junior Caminero and the Rays right now?
Caminero’s next-level hot streak continued in the Rays’ 5-1 win over the D-backs on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field, when Tampa Bay’s superstar slugger went deep for the fourth straight game by launching the longest home run of his young career.
The 22-year-old unloaded on an 0-1 cutter from D-backs starter Merrill Kelly, blasting it over the Daiquiri Deck beyond the center-field fence. Statcast projected the solo shot at 463 feet, an absolute moonshot tied for the fourth-longest homer in the Majors this season.
It was the seventh-longest homer at Tropicana Field since Statcast began tracking batted-ball data in 2015, and the Rays’ second-longest homer since 2021, behind only a 467-foot shot hit by Jonathan Aranda in Baltimore exactly a year ago.
Caminero’s titanic blast was the exclamation point on an excellent homestand for the Rays, who finished it off with a three-game sweep of the D-backs thanks to a strong offensive showing and another outstanding start by Drew Rasmussen, whose six scoreless innings lowered his ERA to 2.45 on the year.
Looking to bounce back from a monthlong skid that knocked them out of first place in the American League East, the Rays went 7-3 during their longest homestand of the season, reclaimed the AL’s best record -- and first place in their division -- on Saturday night and maintained that momentum in the series finale.
Caminero’s latest home run extended a ridiculous run for the All-Star finalist, who became the youngest player in team history to homer in four straight games. He has gone deep six times during that stretch and seven times in his last six games, giving him 22 home runs this season after he hit 45 last year.
Only three players his age or younger have had a longer home run streak since at least 1900, as Ronald Acuña Jr. (2018), Brian McCann (2006) and Jack Clark (1978) each went deep in five straight games.
Caminero’s seven homers during this six-game span are also tied for the most by a hitter age 22 or younger since at least 1900, matching Bryce Harper in 2015, Willie Horton in 1965 and Boog Powell in 1964.
Caminero homered in the first inning in each of his previous three games, including Thursday’s three-homer performance against the Royals. Kelly kept him in the yard in the first inning of Sunday’s series finale, but Caminero still got the Rays on the board with an RBI single to left-center field.
He saved his best for later this time. Caminero’s longest homer in the Majors had been a 450-foot shot, and the longest recorded homer of his professional career was the 454-foot, championship-winning missile he smashed before his lengthy trot around the bases in LIDOM Serie Final Game 7.
Sunday's home run showed Caminero’s incredible ability at the plate, but the next inning displayed what kind of teammate he is. When second baseman Ben Williamson swatted his second homer of the season in the sixth, Caminero was the first Rays player out of the dugout, arms raised to the sky to celebrate.