ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Junior Caminero limped off the Tropicana Field infield past midnight. Less than 20 hours later, he was back in the Tampa Bay Rays lineup.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Wednesday that his 42-homer third baseman is "fine" and will play in Game 5 of the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Tampa Bay trails the series 3-1.
"He's been dealing with some lower extremity injuries, but there's a lot of guys that are nicked up right now playing through a lot," Cash said before the game. "(I) know that Cammy will be ready to go today."
Caminero irritated his left foot leading off the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 4, with the Rays down 3-2 and three outs from elimination. He hit a routine grounder to third and ran hard enough
to beat Joey Ortiz's errant throw. He pulled up limping at first.
He stayed in the game anyway. When Liam Hicks singled to left-center, Caminero went from first to third.
"Really impressive that he went first and third right there, very instinctual play," Cash said.
Cedric Mullins then pinch-ran for him. Cash said after the game that he held off on the move until Caminero reached scoring position, partly because the Rays' bench was already thin. Ben Williamson's walk-off hit finished the 4-3 win and sent the series back to the Trop for one more night.
Caminero said after the game, in Spanish, that the foot has bothered him for about three months. He didn't say what the injury is.
Tampa Bay needs him. Caminero hit 42 home runs with 101 RBIs in the regular season and anchors a lineup that faces Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, who led the majors with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts. Drew Rasmussen starts for the Rays on short rest.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 World Series deficit. The Rays need one more win just to get back to Milwaukee for Game 6.
"If my foot is broken," Caminero said, "I'll play tomorrow."
Rays lineup today
- Yandy Díaz (R) DH
- Jonathan Aranda (L) 1B
- Junior Caminero (R) 3B
- Liam Hicks (L) C
- Jonny DeLuca (R) CF
- Chandler Simpson (L) LF
- Ben Williamson (R) 2B
- Ryan Vilade (R) RF
- Taylor Walls (S) SS
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Junior Caminero in Rays lineup for World Series Game 5 despite injury
