Junior Caminero leaves Rangers shaking their heads on bobblehead night

TAMPA — Continuing his sizzling streak by homering on the night of his first career bobblehead giveaway wasn’t the most impressive or important thing Junior Caminero did Thursday night.

That came a couple of hours later.

Caminero made a daring dash from second base to home plate to turn Taylor Walls’ two-out grounder to second into a two-run, walkoff single and give the Rays one of their wildest wins in a while, 4-3 over Texas.

“Yeah, that was a little nuts,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I wasn’t anticipating looking up and seeing Cami coming around.”

Neither, obviously, was Texas second baseman Marcus Semien as he fielded Walls’ slowly hit ball with the bases loaded and two outs.

Semien grabbed the grounder as he moved to his left and looked to first but had no play. Walls was beating pitcher Robert Garcia to the base while Jonathan Aranda was scoring the tying run. Semien then hesitated as Caminero made the unexpected turn for home and threw late to the plate, the call standing after a replay review.

The Rays’ Taylor Walls connects for a two-run single off Texas Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia during the ninth inning. [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

“I was just trying to be aggressive there,” Caminero said via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “As soon as (Walls) put the ball in play, I was gone. Before I got on base, (bench coach Rodney) Linares had told me to be aggressive and to get a good lead, and that’s what I did. … I didn’t even look at (third-base coach Brady Willams). I just went.”

Maybe not everyone in a Rays uniform was totally surprised.

“When I saw he turned the corner and he was going home I was like, “There goes my crazy guy,’ “ Christopher Morel, who also had a hand in the winning rally, said via Rodriguez. “But thank God he was able to score and we were able to win the game.”

The Rays’ Taylor Walls, left, celebrates with teammates after his walkoff two-run single off Texas Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia during the ninth inning. [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

Caminero was in that position because he had singled with one out in the ninth to score Jose Caballero (who pinch-ran after Yandy Diaz slapped a single) and cut the Rangers lead to 3-2.

Then Caminero was shouting encouragement as Morel, his good friend who has been struggling much of the season, stepped to the plate and hit a two-out grounder that kept the rally going.

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“What can I tell you, all the glory is to God and to Caminero,” Morel said. “I was just trying to do my job there. (Caminero) was telling me, from first, just to be myself, trying to calm me down. And that’s what I did.”

Caminero made that work, getting a good lead and break off first — one of the many little things the Rays have been doing well — to prevent the Rangers from getting the final out at second.

“It’s crazy. He did a heck of a job,” Walls said. “Out of all the things he did right (Thursday), I think the thing that should be highlighted the most is how big his lead was prior to that pitch and how aggressive the secondary (lead) was.

“A guy that’s probably not the best baserunner focusing up and, with help from Rodney to let him know to get out there, just having the mind to know what the situation is and to get a huge lead like that, huge secondary and make that play even possible.”

Caminero is only 21, which can be easy to forget given all he has done. That has been an eventful stretch, which included earning American League co-player of week honors.

The Rays’ Junior Caminero, right, celebrates his solo home run off Texas Rangers pitcher Jack Leiter with third-base coach Brady Williams during the second inning. [ CHRIS O’MEARA | AP ]

Thursday’s homer was his sixth over his last eight games — a tear in which he also has 16 RBIs and 11 runs scored — and his team-leading 15th of the season.

“He is in a zone,” Cash said. “He’s locked in.”

Add the honor of his first-ever bobblehead, which Caminero showed off proudly before the game — joking that his eyebrows weren’t quite right and his JC earrings missing — and later signed for fans, Rays staff and teammates.

#Rays Junior Caminero is quite excited to have his first bobblehead, which is a giveaway for all fans tonght. pic.twitter.com/kzfll3K3Bp

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) June 5, 2025

He didn’t want to pick which was better between hitting the home run or scoring the winning run but clearly enjoyed everything about the night.

“Bobblehead day for me, just sharing that moment with the fans, and we were able to get the victory,” Caminero said. “That’s great.”

The win improved the Rays to 33-29, the first time they’ve been four games over .500 since the end of the 2023 season. It extended their impressive run to 12 wins in their last 15 games and 17 of 25. It gave them their fifth walkoff win of the season and third series sweep.

And it was another example of the resolve they talk about in rallying late to win.

“Down to the final out, never back down,” said starter Ryan Pepiot, who allowed two solo homers over six solid innings. “Just try to make it interesting in the ninth and let anything happen. And anything happened (Thursday).

“That was a wild one. That’s really the only way you can kind of explain it. Just a wild finish. And just a spectacular team win.”

Caminero, apparently, did one more thing right. Though the Rays had just one run — on his second-inning homer — and three hits total through the first eight innings, he insisted he saw their rally coming.

“We battled. We fought,” he said. “When we came into the ninth inning I thought, and I talked to myself, I was like, ‘This is our inning. We’re going to get them here.’”

Today

vs. Marlins, 1:10, Steinbrenner Field TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Sun; 95.3-FM, 620-AM

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