Junior Caminero doesn't say much in the Tampa Bay Rays clubhouse. He lets his bat do the talking.
So, when the 23-year-old third baseman started screaming in the visitors' dugout during Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night, his teammates noticed.
"When he speaks, everybody listens," Rays infielder Richie Palacios said Sunday.
Fox cameras caught the outburst after the sixth inning of Game 2. Moments earlier, Chandler Simpson had a Christian Yelich fly ball bounce off his glove for what should have been the third out. A 4-0 Rays lead was gone, and the clip spread fast.
So did the assumption that Caminero was tearing into Simpson.
Junior Caminero was fired up back in the Rays dugout after the Brewers tied up the game in the 6th pic.twitter.com/QmJljvYFMo
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 25, 2026
The Rays said that was not the case.
"Yesterday, he was just encouraging us to lock in, lock in and not worry about what's behind us but to worry about what's ahead of us," Palacios said. "We all took it as a positive."
Tampa Bay needs that message to stick. The Rays lost 5-4 and trail the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0heading into Game 3 on Monday, Oct. 26 at Tropicana Field.
What Junior Caminero said about his World Series dugout reaction
Caminero never named a teammate. Speaking through interpreter Kevin Vera after the game, he pointed at the whole defense.
"We had to get outs," Caminero told reporters. "At the moment, we weren't doing our job."
Simpson certainly wasn't the only one not doing his job. Jonathan Aranda let a routine grounder go through his legs in the fourth inning with a runner on third, costing the Rays a run. In the sixth, Simpson's misplay was scored a single, not an error, but it put runners on the corners and forced manager Kevin Cash to pull Ian Seymour. The play didn't directly lead to a run, but the Brewers tied the game in the sixth anyway.
Caminero said his goal was "trying to create some energy and get some life back into us."
What Kevin Cash said about Junior Caminero
Cash didn't see a problem
"I think more than anything else, Cammy was trying to fire the guys up, fire the dugout up," Cash said Sunday. "He knew we weren't playing our best baseball."
Cash explained that those moments happen often during the season. The World Series stage just put it in front of a bigger audience.
"Cammy cares a lot," Cash said. "The players care a lot and we want to play good behind our pitchers without a doubt."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why the Rays loved Junior Caminero's World Series dugout outburst
