ST. PETERSBURG -- He did it again.
With the Rays and A’s tied in the bottom of the ninth, Junior Caminero -- only days removed from his dramatic walk-off shot to clinch the Rays’ first trip to the postseason since 2023 -- laced another one to right field off reliever Elvis Alvarado to finish Tampa Bay’s 2-1 victory on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
Before Friday night, Caminero never had a walk-off plate appearance in the Majors. Now he’s hit two walk-off homers in the last five days.
The dramatic victory improved the Rays’ record to 91-59 on the year and ensured that the Rays would maintain at least a 3 1/2 game division lead over the Yankees, who were playing in Minnesota on Tuesday night.
It was a pure pitcher’s duel most of the night. Right-hander Griffin Jax was outstanding for Tampa Bay, striking out seven while allowing only two hits over five scoreless innings. But the former reliever was removed after throwing only 67 pitches as he works his way back from an elbow injury that sidelined him in August.
The A’s tied the game in the sixth against rookie Ty Johnson, who allowed consecutive one-out singles and a run-scoring wild pitch. That was similar to how the Rays scored their first run after a Chandler Simpson double -- the longest hit of his Major League career, at 356 feet -- followed by a productive out by Richie Palacios and a passed ball that scooted past Jonah Heim to plate the run in the second.
That unearned run was all the Rays managed against A’s right-hander Jack Perkins, though, as he struck out eight while working 6 2/3 innings.