Somewhere in another baseball universe, the Arizona Diamondbacks challenge a called ball, and it gets overturned as strike three. Junior Caminero walks back to the dugout, shaking his head, and Friday night’s game unfolds a little differently.
That is not the universe the Tampa Bay Rays played in on Friday night.
Advertisement
Instead of Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno challenging the pitch with two runners aboard in the first inning, Caminero got one more pitch, and he launched it over the centerfield wall for a three-run homer that immediately flipped the game in Tampa Bay’s favor.
No challenge. No strikeout. Three runs.
That is not the whole story of the Rays’ 6-1 win, but it is awfully hard to tell the story without starting there.
The Diamondbacks looked like they might be the ones setting the tone early. Nick Martinez got Ketel Marte to fly out in foul territory to start the game, with Jonny DeLuca making a running catch near the seats. A nice play, but also a bit of foreshadowing for the defense to come in the game.
Advertisement
Then Geraldo Perdomo homered to right center to put Arizona up 1-0. Corbin Carroll followed with a triple to center after the ball deflected away from DeLuca, and suddenly Martinez was trying to keep the first inning from getting away from him.
He did. Moreno popped out. Nolan Arenado popped out. Arizona had landed the first punch, but the Rays kept it to one run.
That mattered almost immediately.
Yandy Díaz opened the bottom of the first with a walk, because Yandy getting on base to start chaos is basically tradition at this point. Jonathan Aranda was hit by a pitch, bringing up Caminero with two on and nobody out.
Advertisement
His 20th homer of the season did not just flip the score. It flipped the whole feel of the night. The Rays went from trailing 1-0 to leading 3-1 in one swing.
From there, the game became less about constant offense and more about the Rays refusing to give the Diamondbacks a clean inning to get back into it. The Rays did not strikeout once, the first time they went a full game without a strikeout since June 15, 2013, against the Kansas City Royals.
They did not crush everything. They did not turn every ball in play into a rally. But they forced Arizona to defend every at-bat, and eventually that pressure helped extend the lead.
Advertisement
The bigger separator, though, was Tampa Bay’s defense. Arizona finished with eight hits, so this was not Martinez and the bullpen simply mowing everybody down. The Diamondbacks had opportunities, but the Rays had gloves that did not come from a two-day online sale.
In the fourth inning, Carroll singled, Moreno followed with another hit, and Arizona had runners on the corners with nobody out. This was a spot where a two-run lead can start feeling very flimsy, very quickly.
Instead, the Rays handled it. Arenado popped out in foul territory. Max Kepler then lined a ball toward third, and Caminero went up for a leaping grab that took away a RBI-swing and helped Martinez breathe. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a force out, and the threat was gone.
DeLuca added another strong defensive play in right in the fifth, running down a ball near the angled wall in the right field corner.
Advertisement
Tampa Bay missed a chance to add on in the sixth when Díaz doubled, and Caminero was intentionally walked. Arizona wanted no part of another big swing from Junior, which was understandable. Richie Palacios popped up, DeLuca flew out, and the Rays left two aboard.
A 3-1 lead was fine. It was also not enough to relax.
Mullins helped with that in the seventh. Leading off the inning, he drove a solo homer to right center, pushing the lead to 4-1 and giving the Rays the breathing room they had been chasing. Mullins had been quiet at the plate earlier, but all it takes is one swing for the rest to be forgotten.
Then the Rays kept going. Hunter Feduccia doubled with two outs, Díaz singled him home, and Aranda doubled in Díaz. A tight 3-1 game had become a 6-1 game, and suddenly the Diamondbacks were running out of innings.
Advertisement
Mullins added the defensive punctuation in the eighth. Perdomo reached to start the inning, and Carroll lined a ball to center that looked like it might start something. Mullins charged in, dove, and made the catch. One batter later, Moreno grounded into a double play started by Caminero and turned through Palacios to Aranda.
Caminero had the swing everyone will remember, the leaping grab that helped save the fourth, and a hand in the double play that helped erase Arizona’s last real push. If I weren’t out of tin foil, I’d make a hat and say that it feels scripted on the night the Rays celebrated Dominican Heritage Night.
Craig Kimbrel was doing 2026 Craig Kimbrel things and made the ninth a little wobbly with a walk and a wild pitch, because even a five-run lead needs a small stress test. But he got Gurriel on a foul tip strikeout and ended it when Pavin Smith lined out to Palacios.
Advertisement
An impressive win with big hits, no strikeouts, and incredible defense. The Rays will look to clinch the series when these two teams meet again tomorrow night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm.
