{"id":5400,"date":"2026-06-26T06:33:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:33:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:33:54","slug":"a-rays-rout-3-home-runs-later-slugger-caminero-looking-like-his-old-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5400","title":{"rendered":"A Rays\u2019 rout: 3 home runs later, slugger Caminero looking like his old self"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ST. PETERSBURG \u2014 The win was important. And the no-hit bid was entertaining.<\/p>\n

But the most encouraging part of Thursday\u2019s 13-2 victory against the Royals was seeing\u00a0Junior Caminero\u00a0circle the bases in the first inning.<\/p>\n

Read more Daily Horoscope for June 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Also, in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n

And again in the eighth.<\/p>\n

If the Rays are going to stay atop the wild-card picture in the\u00a0American League, they\u2019re going to need Caminero to carry an oversized load of the offense. And while the third baseman has been getting on base at a far better clip than last season, his power numbers have declined.<\/p>\n

Before the first three-homer game of his major-league career on Thursday, Caminero had just three home runs in his previous 31 games.<\/p>\n

Caminero has been hitting the ball just as hard \u2014 at 93.2 mph, his average exit velocity going into Thursday was among the highest in the league and was slightly better than 2025 \u2014 but he\u2019s been hitting far more ground balls and line drives than ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s (been) a running joke, but he\u2019s trying to get the ball up in the air,\u201d manager\u00a0Kevin Cash\u00a0said. \u201cEvery pitcher in baseball is trying to not allow him to get extended. When he does get extended and gets it elevated, the ball goes as long as anybody in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While his swing has been flatter in 2026, the Rays determined it was less of a launch-angle problem and more of an issue with his stride. Caminero was stepping slightly toward the plate, which gave his swing more of a closed appearance when his foot landed. Hitting coach\u00a0Chad Mottola\u00a0has been showing Caminero video of his swing in\u00a0Houston\u00a0last season \u2014 when he hit three homers in a three-game span \u2014 to get him to stride more toward the pitcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to get him to land a little more neutral instead of landing closed,\u201d Mottola said. \u201cWe kept bringing it to him, kept bringing it to him, and I think he finally grasped it after (Monday) night here when (Michael)\u00a0Wacha\u00a0beat him a couple of times inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caminero, who hit 45 homers last season, hit his 16th on Tuesday night against the Royals. That turned out to be a mere appetizer to Thursday\u2019s performance. Although, to be fair, the third homer was off a 48 mph fastball from infielder\u00a0Tyler Tolbert, who was brought in to pitch the final inning of the blowout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to get a pitch that I can hit, any pitch I can hit well, and if I send it over the fence, (that\u2019s) great,\u201d Caminero said through team interpreter\u00a0Kevin Vera. \u201cI\u2019m just looking to be selective with my pitches. I\u2019ve been working a lot on my leg kick, I\u2019ve been working with (Mottola), and I\u2019ve gotten good results.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Caminero\u2019s big afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 14,276 at Tropicana Field was looking like it might take a backseat to Rays pitchers Casey Legumina and\u00a0Ian Seymour.<\/p>\n

Read more Talking Central Florida: Local governments face losses if property tax cuts pass<\/a><\/p>\n

Legumina retired the first four hitters he faced as an opener before giving way to Seymour. The left-hander then proceeded to retire 12 consecutive batters before losing a potential perfect game with a one-out walk to\u00a0Starling Marte\u00a0in the sixth.<\/p>\n

Seymour went on to throw 6 \u2154 innings of no-hit ball before giving way to\u00a0Craig Kimbrel\u00a0in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Because it was a combined no-hitter at that point, Cash said it was a fairly easy decision to remove Seymour, who began the season in the bullpen. Seymour, who had not thrown more than 81 pitches in any outing this year, was at 90 pitches when he was removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf his pitch count would have been a little lower, then maybe there\u2019s more consideration (to leaving him in),\u201d Cash said. \u201cBut we\u2019re still building him back up. A month ago, he was still a one- or two-inning reliever, throwing maybe 30 pitches an outing, so we\u2019ve got to be really responsible and smart with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seymour, who said he once took a no-hitter into the ninth inning at\u00a0Virginia Tech\u00a0before giving up a string of hits, said he had no problem with coming out of Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely knew (it was a no-hitter). I think if I hadn\u2019t walked that guy it would have been a little different situation,\u201d Seymour said. \u201cA perfect (game) is harder than a no-hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimbrel got a strikeout to begin the ninth, but then walked Marte and gave up a two-run homer to\u00a0Carter Jensen\u00a0to lose the no-hit bid. The only no-hitter in Rays history was thrown by\u00a0Matt Garza\u00a0in 2010. Five Rays pitchers combined for a seven-inning no-hitter in a double-header against\u00a0Cleveland\u00a0in 2021, but that\u2019s not recognized by MLB as an official no-hitter. Seymour said he had no complaints about falling short on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take that every single time,\u201d said Seymour, who lowered his ERA from 4.98 to 4.32 with the outing. \u201cHopefully, I can build on that momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court lets the Trump administration end legal protections for Haitians and Syrians<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Junior Caminero hit 3 home runs, Victor Mesa Jr. added a 3-run homer and 3 pitchers combined for 8.1 no-hit innings to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 13-2 victory over Kansas City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nA Rays\u2019 rout: 3 home runs later, slugger Caminero looking like his old self - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5400\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Rays\u2019 rout: 3 home runs later, slugger Caminero looking like his old self - 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