CHICAGO — The Rays have bombarded teams with their small-ball approach early in the season.
They lead the Majors in sacrifice bunts (nine) and are fourth in stolen bases (20), but manager Kevin Cash knew this was a team that had pop in them. The White Sox found that out firsthand on Wednesday.
The Rays clubbed three home runs – just the second time this season they’ve done so – and beat the White Sox 8-3 on Wednesday night at Rate Field. It’s the Rays’ fifth straight win.
“I think that we understand that we’ve got a lot of speed,” Cash said before the win. “We certainly have the guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, and I think we’ll look up here at the halfway point and know that our power guys are there producing.”
The prime power threat, third baseman Junior Caminero, jump-started the Rays’ offense with a solo home run in the third inning. He’s had a solid start to the year, posting a .347 on-base percentage entering Wednesday, but hadn’t begun slugging the ball out of the park like you’d expect from a player who clubbed 45 home runs in 2025.
“I think he’s played really well, he’s had great at-bats all season long for us,” Cash said on Tuesday. “We’re all expecting him to have 10 (home runs) right now, which is probably unfair. Realistically, I think a couple of homers, and we’re probably looking at, ‘Oh here goes Junior again.’”
Jake Fraley added a leadoff home run in the sixth inning to make it a 4-0 game, then Jonny DeLuca dealt the knockout blow. The pinch-hitter clubbed a three-run home run in the seventh inning that gave the Rays an eight-run cushion.
That was plenty of support for Jesse Scholtens and the rest of the pitching staff. Scholtens tossed five shutout innings against his former club after entering in the third inning behind opener Cole Susler. Scholtens has pitched 9 2/3 shutout innings to start the season.