HOUSTON – Junior Caminero hit his 25th home run of the season, Nick Fortes drove in a pair of runs and the Rays won their ninth-straight game, defeating the Astros, 3-1, on Friday night at Daikin Park.
Both Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti and Rays starter Nick Martinez were sharp from the opening pitch.
In the sixth inning, Fortes, the nine-hole hitter, broke up the scoreless affair after unloading on a sinker from Arrighetti, bouncing it off the signage above the Rays bullpen for a Statcast-projected 391-foot solo homer. It was Fortes’ second homer of the season.
The Astros answered in the home half of the sixth as Yordan Alvarez rocketed his 27th home run of the season into the right field bullpen to tie the game at 1-1.
Martinez allowed one run on three hits while striking out three and walking one over 5 1/3 innings.
In the seventh inning, Caminero hit a tiebreaking home run to left field off of Steven Okert to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. The 22-year-old has homered in seven of his last eight games dating back to June 25.
Fortes padded the Rays' lead with a two-out RBI double to left-center field, driving in Taylor Walls to make it 3-1 in the eighth.
The Rays' bullpen took over from there, with Kevin Kelly and Casey Legumina combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings to seal Tampa Bay's ninth consecutive victory.