Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

49-33, 18-21 Away

Final
10 - 4

Kansas City Royals

35-51, 19-23 Home

Junior Caminero homers for the 5th straight game as the Rays beat the Royals 10-4 in series opener

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kansas City Royals: Game Highlights

Caminero, the reigning AL player of the week, announced earlier in the day that he would participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby after finishing second to the Mariners' Cal Raleigh last year. Then, the 22-year-old third baseman crushed a pitch from Noah Cameron over the left-field wall for his 23rd homer of the season and the eighth in his last seven games.

Ryan Vilade added a homer of his own on the very next pitch, giving Tampa Bay hitters 13 of them in their last five games. Nick Fortes also drove in a pair of runs while Jonathan Aranda had an RBI single and reached base four times.

Rays starter Griffin Jax (4-5) allowed a leadoff homer to Carter Jensen and a two-run shot to Bobby Witt Jr., but still made it through six innings. The right-hander struck out five without a walk to beat the Royals for the second time in a week.

Witt added a solo homer in the eighth inning off Rays reliever Cole Sulser for his seventh career multi-homer game. Jensen's homer extended his hitting streak to 20 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Cameron (4-6), who gave up five runs in five innings against Tampa Bay last week, allowed six on nine hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings this time. The left-hander has allowed 21 earned runs over his last four starts covering just 18 innings.

The AL East-leading Rays improved to a majors-best 19-7 against left-handed starters this season.

Up next Rays LHP Shane McLanahan (6-5, 3.30 ERA) will try to snap a three-game skid when he makes his fourth career start against Kansas City on Wednesday night. Royals RHP Seth Lugo (3-5, 4.18) will try to bounce back from a dismal start last week against Tampa Bay, when he allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks in just five innings.

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Rays at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Perez lined out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Massey grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Thomas grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Kimbrel relieved Sulser
	9th Inning	Fortes grounded out to pitcher.
	9th Inning	Walls flied out to left.

Statistics

TB		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
15	Ground Balls	9
2	Strikeouts	7
9	Runs Batted In	4
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
11	Hits	6
0	Stolen Bases	0
11	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
10	Runs	4
2	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
32	At Bats	32
2	Home Runs	3
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
14	Runners Left On Base	8
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	2
16	Fly Balls	16
2	Caught Stealing	0
181	Pitches	115
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
17	Total Bases	17
45	Plate Appearances	33
324.0	Projected Home Runs	486.0
2	Extra Base Hits	5
8.3	Runs Created	3.6
.344	Batting Average	.188
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.531	Slugging Percentage	.531
.469	Secondary Average	.375
.523	On Base Percentage	.212
1.054	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.743
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
8.6	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.6
55.0	Batter Rating	35.0
16.0	At Bats Per Home Run	10.7
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.02	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.48
.188	Isolated Power	.344
5.50	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.14
.244	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.030
.125	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.188
19.0	Runs Produced	8.0
0.9	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.7	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.1
103.0	MLB Rating	82.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0