PHILADELPHIA, Pa. \u2014 Junior Caminero feared the worst when a 98-mph sinker that didn\u2019t sink struck him in the left hand in the All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
For the Tampa Bay Rays slugging third baseman, Caminero considered himself fortunate that the hit-by-pitch was more a scare than a season-ender.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are thinking the worst and honestly thought something may have been broken,\u201d Caminero said through a translator. \u201cBut thank you to God, it\u2019s fine and just a little bit sore. But we\u2019re all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caminero was struck on the outside of his left hand by St. Louis Cardinals closer Riley O\u2019Brien with a high, hard pitch in the top of the third inning with the American League up 3-0 on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old Caminero, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
X-rays were negative.<\/p>\n
\u201cSinker on hands that didn\u2019t hit my bat at all,\u201d Caminero said. \u201cSo, look, it was a scary moment. But you know, right now, we feel really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rays resume their season Friday with a doubleheader in Boston.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien, who has 24 saves this season for the Cardinals, checked in with Caminero in the American League clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Ryan I really appreciate the gesture,\u201d Caminero said. \u201cHe came into the clubhouse, and he took a few seconds to apologize, but I told him it was part of the game. He was really worried, but I told him, ‘Look, these things happen. We are here to have fun, and we are here to enjoy the night’.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caminero was replaced by Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox. Vargas hit a solo homer for the AL in the eighth inning for the game\u2019s first extra-base hit.<\/p>\n
Caminero hit 17 total home runs a night earlier at Citizens Bank Park in the Home Run Derby. He hit 45 home runs with 110 RBIs last season, and this season has led the Rays to the top of the AL East.<\/p>\n
He batted fourth on Tuesday and became the first Ray to start an All-Star Game in two straight seasons. Caminero grounded out in his first at-bat against Phillies ace and National League starter Cristopher S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n
Caminero \u2014 who advanced to the final round of last season\u2019s Home Run Derby before losing a close contest to Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh \u2014 this season became the youngest player since at least 1900 to homer in six consecutive games.<\/p>\n
The AL won the All-Star Game 4-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA, Pa. \u2014 Junior Caminero feared the worst when a 98-mph sinker that didn\u2019t sink struck him in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[563,556,560,1769,5,182,555,4,169,184,144,8602,557,185,317,295,68,558],"class_list":["post-753169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-app-professional-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-associated-press","tag-baseball","tag-florida","tag-florida-sports","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-philadelphia","tag-pinellas-county","tag-professional-baseball","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116928805815064228","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}