Junior Caminero’s 40th homer and 100th RBI help Rays beat Mariners 6-5
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Junior Caminero hit his 40th homer and drove in four runs to reach 100 RBIs as the Tampa Bay Rays held on to beat Cal Raleigh and the Seattle Mariners 6-5 on Tuesday night.
Raleigh hit his 51st homer, extending his major league record for home runs by a catcher, but he popped out with two men on base to end the game against Garrett Cleavinger, who earned his second save.
Caminero, who turned 22 in July, had an RBI single in the first inning, went deep in the sixth against Bryan Woo to tie the game at 3-all, and got to 100 RBIs with a two-run double in the seventh off Gabe Speier (2-2) that made it 6-4. He became the fourth player in major league history to hit at least 40 homers in his age-21 season or younger, joining Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and Ronald Acuña Jr.
The Rays have won five straight to climb back to .500 at 69-69.
Julio Rodríguez went back-to-back with Raleigh when he homered in the fourth, and Jorge Polanco added a two-out longball that inning — all against Drew Rasmussen, who gave up just three homers in August.
Kevin Kelly (1-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Key moment
After Griffin Jax loaded the bases in the ninth with Tampa Bay leading 6-4, Cleavinger came in and gave up a sacrifice fly by Mitch Garver, then got Randy Arozarena to fly out and retired Raleigh.
Key stat
Caminero became the first American League player in his age-21 season to drive in at least 100 runs since Alex Rodriguez, who finished with 123 in 1996.
Up next
George Kirby (8-6, 3.94 ERA) starts Wednesday night for the Mariners as they try to avoid a three-game sweep. Adrian Houser (7-4, 2.85) goes for the Rays.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By KRISTIE ACKERT
Associated Press
