Junior Caminero leads way as Rays rally to blast Astros

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on May 29, 2025

Published in Baseball

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Losing an early three-run lead wasn’t going to keep the Rays from winning another game.

After the Astros rallied to tie Thursday’s game in the sixth inning, the Rays responded in a big way, scoring five runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, and rolling to a 13-3 victory at Daikin Park in Houston.

The win was the Rays’ eighth in their past nine games and 13th in 19 as they improved to 29-27, two games over .500 for the first time since April 2.

Junior Caminero had the biggest of the five hits in their nine-batter seventh inning, a three-run homer. He then doubled in two runs in the eighth as part of a career-high six-RBI night.

But it really was a team effort, as all nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit and they batted around in two innings in getting 23 men on base (14 hits, six walks, three hit by pitches).

Josh Lowe started the seventh-inning rally with a single, Brandon Lowe was hit by a pitch and Yandy Diaz delivered an RBI single. Jonathan Aranda laced a double (originally scored an error then changed) that scored another run. Caminero followed with the homer, his 11th of the season.

Caminero, who also made several good defensive plays, had a two-run double in the eighth after the Rays loaded the bases on walks. Kameron Misner doubled in two more runs, and Jose Caballero doubled in another.

Rookie outfielder Chandler Simpson also had a big night, including creating a fourth-inning run without a ball being put in play. He walked, stole second and third, and then scored when catcher Yainer Diaz made an errant throw.

The Rays grabbed an early 3-0 lead, scoring first for the sixth time in their last seven games.

Josh Lowe drew a game-starting walk, went to third on Brandon Lowe’s single and scored on Diaz’s sacrifice fly.

Simpson extended the lead to 2-0 with his aggressive baserunning in the fourth, and they made it 3-0 in the fifth when Caminero singled in Aranda.

Rays starter Shane Baz seemed headed for a happy Houston homecoming, allowing only one hit through the first four innings. But the Astros rallied to tie and ended Baz’s night in the sixth.

Yainer Diaz homered with one out in the fifth, turning on a slider that is Baz’s least used and least effective pitch, on which he has allowed six of his 11 homers. The Astros added another when FSU product Cam Smith doubled and scored on Mauricio Dubon’s single.

They got even when Jose Altuve led off the sixth with a homer.

Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to 12 games, matching his career best from the 2019 season.