Junior Caminero's Grand Slam Gives Rays Wild 11-9 Win Over Blue Jays

TORONTO — The Tampa Bay Rays don't play slugfest games very often. But they did Tuesday night, and third baseman Junior Caminero was the big hero, hitting a grand slam in the ninth inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

The game had a little bit of everything. The Rays jumped out to a 4-0 start, but then pitcher Shane Baz, who's been struggling of late, couldn't make it out of the fifth inning and the Jays got back in it late against Tampa Bay's best relievers.

Garrett Clevenger came into the game in the seventh, and the Rays had a 6-3 lead. But he allowed a leadoff homer to Ernie Clement, and then in the eighth inning, Edwin Uceta was way off. He walked two batters and then gave up a three-run homer to Dalton Varsho, putting Toronto ahead 7-6.

The Rays rallied in the ninth, though, attacking Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman, who came into the game with nine saves and had just one bad outing in 19 appearances.

Make that two.

Travis Jankowski drew a one-out walk and then the Rays got three straight singles from Danny Jansen, Chander Simpson and Brandon Lowe. Simpson's hit tied the game 7-7 and Jansen had to hold at third on Lowe's hit to right.

Enter Caminero, who hit a mammoth 419-foot homer to left on a 2-2 count, making it 11-7. It was the first grand slam of his career — he had started his night 0-for-4 — and the 15th homer of his young career. The first one came in Toronto, too, in the 2023 season finale on Oct. 1.

Junior Slaminero 🥶 pic.twitter.com/LwLLbJWhkc
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 14, 2025

It was his eighth homer this year, a team-high. His 20 RBIs are now tied for the team lead along with Lowe, Aranda and Yandy Diaz, who missed the trip because of a passport issue.

“It's a lot of power. There's a lot of talent when we're talking about Junior,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “He got that and hit it a long way.”

The Rays still had to sweat out the bottom of the inning to get the win. Closer Pete Fairbanks, who started the season with eight straight saves but has been shaky lately, had another rough night. He gave up three straight one-out doubles to Myles Straw, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and suddenly it was 11-9.

Fairbanks struck out Anthony Santandar — Toronto's high-priced free agent signee who was 0-for-4 on the night with three strikeouts and is hitting .190 on the season — but then he walked George Springer. With the left-handed hitting Varsho coming up, Cash opted the replace Fairbanks with lefty Mason Montgomery.

The 24-year-old from Austin, Texas got Varsho to fly out to left field, ending the game. It was his first career save.

“I was just trying to throw the ball as hard as I could,” Montgomery told reporters after the game. “Figured if I did that, it might work out all right.”

The Rays are now 19-22 on the season after their win against division rival Toronto, who's 20-21. They are 8-1 in their past nine road games and are 8-5 on the road so far. Their 13 road games are the fewest in the majors, but their .615 winning percentage on the road in second-best in baseball behind the Athletics (14-7).

The two teams will play their second of 13 games on Wednesday night. Ryan Pepiot (2-4, 3.86 ERA) will pitch for Tampa Bay. Chris Bassitt (3.2, 3.35 ERA) is scheduled to throw for the Blue Jays. The game starts at 7:07 p.m. ET

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