CLEVELAND -- The ball came soaring off Junior Caminero’s bat, flying through the night sky like so many of the jaw-dropping blasts he has launched over the fence throughout his young career. Game 4 of the American League Championship Series was tied, and Caminero was poised to change that. Finally, it seemed, the Rays’ superstar had his October moment.
He hit it hard. He hit it far. But he hit it to the wrong part of Progressive Field on a 46-degree night. Center Petey Halpin tracked Caminero’s fly ball to the deepest part of center field and slammed into the wall as he reeled in Caminero’s flyout for the first out of the fourth.
But Caminero still had his moment. It just came two innings later. With two runners on and nobody out in the sixth inning, Caminero ripped a tiebreaking double to left field off Daniel Espino that gave the Rays a lead in their 7-3 win over the Guardians on Saturday night.
The ALCS is tied, 2-2. The Rays have regained homefield advantage, with the series now guaranteed to return to Tropicana Field for Game 6 on Monday night.
And after a frustrating start to the series, the Rays’ “Big Three” -- Caminero, first baseman Jonathan Aranda and DH Yandy Díaz -- have joined the party.
Caminero’s RBI double shifted the momentum in Tampa Bay’s favor. Aranda delivered a couple of huge knocks that got the Rays on the board and briefly gave them a little breathing room in an otherwise suffocatingly tight series. And Díaz delivered the final blow, a two-run homer in the ninth inning.
It was exactly the kind of night the Rays needed after that trio began the series by going a combined 5-for-34 with just one RBI. In Game 4, they went 6-for-14 with five RBIs.
Aranda was hitless in the ALCS when he came to the plate in the third inning with two outs and Díaz at second base, but he came through in a big spot against left-hander Foster Griffin. Aranda swatted a 1-0 sweeper to center field, driving in Díaz and tying the score, 1-1.
Caminero put them ahead in the sixth with only his second RBI of the postseason. It was the moment he had been waiting for, especially after an uncharacteristic 0-for-4, four-strikeout performance in Game 3. Manager Kevin Cash foreshadowed Caminero’s big hit before the game, saying the 23-year-old was “highly motivated to get going, and rightfully so,” but not overly anxious.
“I don't think Junior is concerned one bit. He was playing dominos last night after the ballgame with the guys,” Cash said Saturday afternoon. “I talked to him this morning. He's got the biggest smile in the clubhouse on his face. He's ready to get a bat in his hands.”
That was evident in the fourth inning, when Caminero blasted a 110.7 mph fly ball with a 29-degree launch angle to deep center field. It was the 265th batted ball at 110 mph with a 28- to 30-degree launch angle tracked by Statcast, and the other 264 were home runs. His was not.
But Caminero still found a way to enjoy his first big moment in the postseason spotlight.
After driving in the go-ahead run on a 110.2 mph drive over third baseman José Ramírez, Caminero looked toward the Rays’ dugout, put one finger over his closed lips -- silencing the doubters, perhaps -- then roared in celebration.
The Rays wound up needing one more big hit, and they got it from Aranda in the seventh.
Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls pulled off a double steal to put a pair of runners in scoring position for the top of the order. After Díaz struck out, Aranda smacked a grounder through the right side of Cleveland’s drawn-in infield … and the ball kept rolling under the glove of right fielder Chase DeLauter, allowing both runners to score as Aranda wheeled around to third base. Chandler Simpson further capitalized on the error by lifting a sacrifice fly to right.
Díaz finally made his mark in the ninth, sending an 0-2 fastball from Matt Festa just over the right-field fence for a two-run homer. Díaz became the Rays’ all-time leader in postseason games played earlier this series, but that was his first homer in the playoffs since he went deep twice against the A’s in the 2019 AL Wild Card Game, his first postseason game with Tampa Bay.