For nine innings, they were in a race toward history. The bat. The arm. No one could stop either of them.
There was the star, Junior Caminero. Already one of the finest young stars in baseball. Camerino has never been better. He launched three home runs in the game, leading the Rays to a 13-2 victory over Kansas City at Tropicana Field. Caminero had six RBI in the game, hitting a 372-foot homer, a 387-foot homer and a 393-foot homer.
Caminero now has 19 homers on the season.
It wasn't just Caminero's day, however. How about the underdog pitcher Ian Seymour. Seymour brought the Rays to the brink of the franchise's second-ever no-hitter.
Seymour smothered the Royals./TIM WIRT
Seymour went 6 2/3 innings of no-hit, shutout baseball. It was an impressive outing considering that most of Seymour's outings have been one or two innings.
He came in in the second inning, replacing starter Casey Legumina (who got the game's first four outs).
Craig Kimbrell gave up the Royals' only hit, a two-run home run by Carter Jensen in the ninth.
Jonathan Aranda also had three hits for the Rays. Richie Palacios, Cedric Mullins and Taylor Walls all had two hits.
The Rays are home against Arizona tonight at 7:10 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against a starter-to-be-named for the Diamondbacks.
When the losing streaks of the Tampa Bay Rays are broken, it usually comes down to Yandy Diaz who leads the way.
Diaz did it again Wednesday night, getting four hits as the Rays were finally able to beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3, at Tropicana Field.
Diaz, whose average is up to .332, has led the Rays in batting average most of the season. He currently leads the American League.
He wasn't alone in this one, however. Jonathan Aranda had two hits and two RBI in the win.
Diaz has had 25 multi-hit games this season.
The Rays scored three times in the third inning and twice in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.
Kansas City came back with two in the fifth, both scoring because of Rays' errors. Shortstop Taylor Walls missed a routine ground ball and left fielder Chandler Simpson dropped a routine foul ball.
The Royals scored once more on a home run by Josh Rojas in the ninth, but that was all the Rays' bullpen gave up.
The Rays and Royals close out their four-game series today at 12:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Ian Seymour (3-1) will start for the Rays against Seth Lugo (3-4).
The Rays, still contending, are playing at home, where they've been successful. They're playing the Kansas City Royals, the last-place team of the AL Central Division. They're facing former teammate Michael Wacha, who had lost seven straight games. They held the Royals to four hits and retired the last 14 hitters they faced,.
And their own bats go to sleep.
The Rays struggled mightily against the Royals and Wacha Monday night, losing 2-1. It was another attempt by the Rays to get a streak going. Instead, they are 8-17 in their last 25 games.
It happens with the Rays on occasion. Take Tuesday night. The Rays were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and struck out eight times.
The Rays had just six hits, two of them by Chandler Simpson. Yandy Diaz drove in the team's only run with a fifth-inning double.
The Rays and Royals play again tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Shane McClanahan (6-4) will start for the Rays against Luinder Avila (2-3).
The Tampa Bay Rays may be blowing their biggest chance of the summer.
The opportunity to get back into the race was at hand. They had a 10-game homestand. Their schedule was packed with beatable foes.
Instead, the air continues to drain from their balloon.
The Rays lost again Tuesday night. They were clobbered by the last-place Kansas City Royals, 12-5 at Tropicana Field. It was their third loss in four games for the fading Rays.
It was the team's 13 loss its last 20 games, its 18th in its last 26.
In the last two months, the Rays have lost two series to the Orioles, two to the Angels, to the Tigers, to the Marlins and are down 2-0 to the Royals.
The Royals looked strong against the Rays, scoring two in the fisrst, four in the fifth and five in the eighth for their easy win. It was 11-1 at one point.
Nick Lofton had four hits for Baltimore and Jac Caglianone had three, including two home runs for Kansas City.
Junior Caminero had three hits for the Rays and Jonathan Aranda had two. Caminero had his 16th home run.
The Royals got to Shane McClanahan for six runs in six innings, although only two were earned. The Rays have lost four of his last five starts,
The Rays try again to beat the Royals tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Griffin Jax (2-5) will start for the Rays against Noah Cameron (4-4).
Monday, 4 a.m. Well, welcome back, Jonny DeLuca. DeLuca, making his return from the injured list, homered for the second time in three games. He launched a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning, bringing the Rays from behind and leading the Rays to a 4-3 win over Washington at Tropicana Field. DeLuca, […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. This time, they left the victory on base. The Rays offense left repeated scoring chances go by the wayside in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Washington National. In a one-run loss — their seventh in their last eight one-run games — it was toxic. Consider: — The Rays had 10 hits and […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. Maybe it was being home. More likely, it was the home runs. The Tampa Bay Rays, comfortable at home after a terrible (1-5) road trip, came from behind to beat the Washington Nationals, 5-2, at Tropicana Field. The Rays, who have won 25 games at home this year, relied on the long […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. Wherever the cure for the sliding Tampa Bay Rays is, we can be sure it isn’t in Los Angeles. Yeah, the Rays lost again Wednesday afternoon. That isn’t new. The Rays fell for the fifth time in six games in L.A. The Rays, now 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. Maybe Drew Rasmussen should sue for non-support, Rasmussen, the pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, was impressive once again Tuesday night. On the other hand, the Rays left their bats in hibernation. They were tamed by Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski. The Rays managed just three hits in a 1-0 loss to the […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. During their recent slide in the American League, you can add this to the list of woes of the Tampa Bay Rays. They’re having trouble holding onto a lead. The Rays, 6-13 in their last 19 games, saw an early lead painfully whittled down in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
