ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays hit their way out of a few opportunities on Saturday afternoon at Tropicana Field, from a bases-loaded situation in the first inning to a spot with the winning run on base in the ninth. The Nationals’ stellar defense played Tampa Bay out of a couple other chances.
And in one unfortunate instance in the seventh inning, Junior Caminero ran them out of a potential scoring opportunity. All those missed chances loomed large after the Rays’ 4-3 defeat, Tampa Bay’s 16th loss in the last 24 games.
“When we had guys on base for that big hit, it just wasn't easy to come by,” manager Kevin Cash said.
With two outs and Jonathan Aranda at first base in the seventh, Caminero smashed a ground ball up the middle. Nats second baseman Nasim Nuñez ranged to his right and made a backhanded stop, but his throw to first sailed into foul territory and bounced off the netting in front of Tampa Bay’s dugout.
Caminero rounded first as Nationals first baseman Andrés Chaparro pursued the ball, then slowly trotted toward second as Chaparro threw it to shortstop CJ Abrams. Caminero stopped short of the bag, where he was tagged by Abrams and called out, leaving Aranda at third to end the inning.
"I thought it went out of play, and I shouldn't have," Caminero said through interpreter Kevin Vera. "I should have kept going until I saw an umpire's decision, but unfortunately, I stopped."
Caminero said he didn’t see Chaparro with “full control of the baseball” when he turned around, so he thought it slipped out of play. But he acknowledged multiple times afterward that he should have kept running hard to second.
“We talked to him and understand why he assumed it, but you've got to look at the umpires,” Cash said. “They're normally going to wave that off. … So, ideally, don't assume.”
That wasn’t the Rays’ first missed opportunity, though, and it wouldn’t be their last.
They loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning against starter Cade Cavalli, but the only run they scored came on Caminero’s sacrifice fly. Richie Palacios then grounded into a double play made possible by Nuñez’s spectacular turn at second base.
“Bases loaded, no outs, we want to get a little greedier right there,” Cash said. “Abrams to Nuñez, heck of a double play, because Richie can get down the line pretty quick.”
The Rays loaded the bases again in the second, this time with two outs, but Aranda grounded out to end the threat. Two innings in, Tampa Bay had left six runners on base and trailed, 2-1.
The Rays tied it in the third, when slumping left fielder Chandler Simpson delivered an RBI single up the middle and promptly swiped second, his first stolen base since May 11. But even that could have yielded more, as Palacios was thrown out at the plate on a contact play and Simpson was stranded at third when pinch-hitter Nick Fortes flied out.
“Those first three innings, we had multiple runners in scoring position and bases loaded,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “We just, again, didn't come up with that big hit.”
Down 3-2 in the eighth with the speedy Simpson on first, Victor Mesa Jr. sent a fly ball deep to left-center field. If it landed for a hit, Simpson would have scored the tying run. But Nats center fielder Jacob Young crashed into the wall, a collision that forced him to leave with an injury, and Simpson retreated to first, where he was left stranded.
“Absolutely unbelievable play,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “Huge moment in the game.”
Dylan Crews homered in the ninth to make it 4-2, but the Rays were given new life after Caminero’s barehanded scoop and throw home cut down a run at the plate and a James Wood fly ball bounced off a catwalk and settled into Walls’ glove.
Walls led off the ninth with a walk, stole second and third then scored on a Yandy Díaz single. Pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca stole second, but Aranda flied out and Cedric Mullins struck out for the fourth time. The Nats intentionally walked Caminero, representing the winning run, and Ben Williamson struck out on a called third strike to leave two more runners on base.
Caminero stared into the Nats’ dugout after they put him on, clearly aggravated he didn’t get the chance to win the game after going 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Another missed opportunity on a day full of them.
“I felt really confident at the plate the entire day,” Caminero said. “So I wanted to possibly tie the game, send one out, whatever it may be. … That’s why I was a little frustrated at the end. I just wanted to hit.”