Sigh. The Rays refuse to go away. It’s not surprising. But it is infuriating, especially given the putrid state of basically the entire American League except for the Yanks and Tampa Bay. The Rays’ recent hot streak is particularly unfortutnate as the Yankees can’t buy a win right now, finishing a truly terrible four-game sweep at Fenway against the previously dreadful Red Sox.
On Sunday, Tampa Bay rode one of the hottest bats in baseball to their fifth-straight win while Toronto faltered against
the Rangers and the Mariners blew a late lead to Cleveland to fall under .500. Luckily for the M’s, they play in a terrible division so are still only a half-game out of first place, trailing 42-42 Texas.
Tampa Bay Rays (48-33) 5, Arizona Diamondbacks (41-42) 1
Entering Sunday, Junior Caminero had clubbed six home runs in his previous five games, highlighted by a three-dinger outburst on the 25th against Kansas city. With the Rays riding a four-game winning streak and looking to sweep the D-backs, did Caminero have some magic left in his bat? Of course.
The Rays’ third baseman started the scoring with a first-inning single. Tampa Bay extended its lead with a pair of runs in the third inning. In the fifth, Caminero came to the plate again. Spoiler alert: he still had a bunch of magic left in his bat. Caminero launched an utter bomb to left-center field. His majestic 463-foot blast put the Rays up 4-0.
The Rays added one more run via a solo home run from Ben Williamson in the sixth. Their fifth win in a row moved them a half-game ahead of the slumping Yankees in the AL East prior to New York’s series finale at Fenway. By the end of the night, they were a full game ahead and had sole possession of first for the first time since June 5th.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (39-45) 2, Texas Rangers (42-42) 3: Louis Varland has been amazing for the Blue Jays in 2026. Entering Sunday, he’d allowed a total of four earned runs all season (two of them to Paul Goldschmidt and the Yanks in a 3-2 New York victory a couple weeks ago) and boasted a 0.82 ERA. I think Toronto would have preferred he find a better time to allow his fifth run of the season. To be fair, you don’t see guys score from second on a wild pitch that often. But that is what happened. With Jarred Kelenic at second, Varland uncorked a wild one. Alejandro Kirk had no idea where the ball went inititally. Kelenic never slowed down and by the time Kirk found the ball it was too late. What a tough way to lose.
Since finally getting back to .500 on June 22nd, the Jays have dropped six in a row. Meanwhile, the Rangers have sole posession of first place in the lowly AL West for the first time since April 17th.
Cleveland Guardians (44-40) 6, Seattle Mariners (42-43) 5: With Seattle up 4-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth, it seemed like the M’s should hold on for the win and the division lead in the exceedingly mediocre AL West. Then, Guards Ball struck: Single, walk, single; 4-2, Seattle. A sac bunt and a walk loaded the bases. Travis Bazzana popped out for the second out of the inning. So close to escape. Then Chase DeLauter singled. Tie game. Rhys Hoskins then provided the big blow with a double down the left field line that just stayed fair. Two more runs scored. Seattle put the winning runs in scoring position in the ninth but J.P. Crawford was unable to bring them home.
