MINNEAPOLIS -- All it took was two big swings to send the Rays back to Tropicana Field on a high note.
Richie Palacios’ two-run homer in the 10th inning broke a 1-1 tie and the Rays went on to beat the Twins, 4-1, on Sunday at Target Field. The win was Kevin Cash's 900th as Tampa Bay's manager.
Now the Rays make their long-awaited return to Tropicana Field, which was unavailable last season after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Milton in October 2024. And they’ll do it with a 4-5 record after taking two of three from the Twins over the weekend.
Palacios’ hit might have had a bigger impact on the game, but people will be talking about Caminero’s off-the-shoetops homer for a long time.
With spring weather and the return of Masters week, it’s only natural that people’s thoughts might turn to golf -- even baseball players. Caminero found a way to celebrate both sports with his first home run of the season.
Matt Wallner had given the Twins a 1-0 lead when he led off the second inning with a long homer onto the plaza in right field. But Caminero tied it in the fourth when he golfed a Simeon Woods Richardson pitch over the left-field fence.
Woods Richardson and Caminero battled to a 2-2 count when the Twins starter threw a splitter well below the strike zone. But the Rays’ 22-year-old third baseman reached out and launched it high and deep to left. The ball carried into the second deck after traveling a Statcast-projected 397 feet with a launch angle of 28 degrees.
“I didn’t try to do too much,” Caminero said of his home run swing. “That’s why in hitting, I try to put it in play, and thank you God for it going over the fence.”
The pitch Caminero hit was just 1.04 feet off the ground. That makes it the lowest pitch hit for a homer in the Majors this season, and the second-lowest pitch a Rays hitter has taken out of the yard since Statcast began tracking the metric in 2015, behind only Corey Dickerson (0.82 feet on Oct. 1, 2016).
That Caminero could hit a pitch like that with such authority was no surprise to Cash.
“He's got a knack. He’s a good hitter. He can hit everything,” Cash said. “I think I saw him hit a similar pitch in the WBC earlier this year. Cami covers the plate and then some."
It has been a slow start to the season for Caminero, who entered the series without an extra-base hit or an RBI through the first six games. Now he’s got a double, a homer and two RBIs. Caminero actually didn’t homer until his 10th game last season, when he made his first All-Star Game and finished with 45 homers, one shy of Carlos Peña’s team single-season record.
“When you get your first one, you’re more confident, more relaxed now,” Caminero said. “Let’s keep it going.”
The game remained tied until Palacios led off the 10th against right-hander Justin Topa. With automatic runner Ben Williamson on second, Palacios turned on Topa’s second pitch and hit it deep into the right-field stands.
“I'm just looking for a pitch, middle of the plate,” Palacios said of his approach to the at-bat. “I was able to get that cutter up and in and then put a good swing on it.”
Palacios chuckled at the suggestion that he was merely waiting for Caminero to hit his first home run of the year before going deep himself.
“If I just homer in every game that Junior homers in, we’ll be good,” Palacios said.