ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays are synonymous with pitching innovation, and on Thursday afternoon they very nearly reached the pinnacle. Tampa Bay came two outs from no-hitting the Royals while starting the game with an opener in an eventual 13-2 victory at Tropicana Field.
Craig Kimbrel gave up Kansas City’s first and only hit with one out in the ninth inning, a no-doubt two-run homer from catcher Carter Jensen, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games at the last moment.
Reliever Casey Legumina started the game for the Rays, going 1 1/3 perfect frames, and bulk man Ian Seymour took the reins from there. He did not allow a baserunner until walking Starling Marte in the sixth inning, and he ultimately went 6 2/3 innings without giving up a hit. Kimbrel then entered to try to polish it off. He walked the first batter (Marte again), then struck out Tyler Tolbert before allowing the homer to Jensen.
The Rays remain stuck on one no-hitter in their franchise’s history, an impressive effort from Matt Garza on July 26, 2010.
Junior Caminero provided the bulk of the offense in the blowout victory, starting with a home run in the bottom of the first, one of a trio on the day for his first career three-homer game. Tampa Bay knocked around Royals starter Seth Lugo, who allowed seven earned runs over five innings.
After Caminero's performance, the Rays are the second team in at least the expansion era (1961) to have an eight-plus inning no-hit bid and an individual three-homer game in the same game. The only other instance was Cincinnati on June 27, 2025, with Nick Martinez taking a no-hitter into the ninth to go along with Spencer Steer's three-homer day.
There has never been a no-hitter and an individual three-homer game in the same game.