Rays survive Junior Caminero scare, beat Guardians to win 6th straight

Tuesday's game started with a scare. Rays All-Star slugger Junior Caminero face down behind home plate, kicking his feet and writhing in pain, having fouled off a pitch that bounced up and hit the right side of his jaw.

Caminero slowly got up, finished his at-bat with a weak grounder to the pitcher and promptly headed to the clubhouse for treatment and further evaluation.

By the end of the night, the Rays had good news on their best player, a diagnosis of a jaw contusion, with manager Kevin Cash saying he was feeling OK, "in really good spirits," and expected to play Wednesday.

The game turned out well, as the Rays made a fifth-inning run stand up to beat the Guardians 1-0 in Cleveland to extend their win streak to a season-high-matching six.

Nick Martinez continued his one-man campaign to prove spring training stats meaningless with another strong start, working impressively into the eighth.

Jonathan Aranda delivered his 25th RBI, second most in the American League, with a two-out single, scoring Taylor Walls, who had walked and moved to third on a two-out single by Ben Williamson, who took Caminero's spot in the order.

And the bullpen trio of Ian Seymour, Kevin Kelly and Cole Sulser teamed for a tense finish, allowing three walks (two intentionally) and a hit but getting the final six outs.

The Rays improved to 18-11 overall, have gone an American League-best 16-6 since a 2-5 start. They have won their last six one-run games and also have won 13 of their first 14 games against AL opponents.

"I think they're gaining more confidence," manager Kevin Cash told reporters at Progressive Field. "We've played very well here as of late, for sure. And we're winning tight ballgames a lot.

"And when you can win tight ballgames - and there's no tighter than 1-0; you have no margin for error - I think it just continues to bring together a group that's already been together and they're kind of feeding off other."

Martinez did the most work, following up his stellar outing against the Reds last week (eight innings, one run) with another gem.

Tuesday, he allowed three hits, struck out four and didn't get to a three-ball count or throw five pitches to a batter until he walked debuting rookie Travis Bazzana to open the eighth.

The 35-year-old was effective, especially with his nasty changeup, and efficient, throwing 78 pitches (54 strikes). He has posted a 1.70 ERA in allowing two or fewer runs in each of his six starts, and the Rays have won five.

Pretty good for the guy with the 0-4 spring record and 14.49 ERA.

"It's back-to-back starts for him where he's really had everything going," Cash said. "He's executing at a very high rate right now and doing it incredibly efficient."

When Martinez walked Bazzana, Cash went to lefty Ian Seymour, a former minor-league starter who has been thrust into some high-leverage, one-inning situations.

Seymour walked pinch-hitter Rhys Hoskins, then No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio bunted the runners to third and second. The Rays intentionally walked Steven Kwan to load the bases.

Seymour got a huge out, striking out lefty Chase DeLauter.

Then Kelly came in to try to get a bigger one, facing Cleveland star Jose Ramirez.

"That's the last guy you want to see come up to the plate maybe in any game, Jose Ramirez," Cash said. "But KK took a deep breath and got it to where it was just off the barrel enough that it didn't carry out to center, for a big out.

"KK has been in that role and had those experiences before (that we) trust he's going to throw the ball over the plate and make him make contact."

With Bryan Baker getting saves three of the past four days, the Rays needed a different option for the ninth. That was Sulser, the 36-year-old who hadn't had a save since 2022.

He got two outs, then allowed a double to Angel Martinez and brought Bazzana, the top pick in the 2024 draft, to the plate for a storybook ending. Once Sulser fell behind 2-0, the Rays put Bazzana on.

Pinch-hitter George Valera was next. Sulser got him on a three-pitch strikeout to end it.

"Really nice job," Cash said. "We got some big strikeouts there at the end. Getting the leadoff hitter I think is fairly settling. Then they got a guy on base, and there's some traffic and stuff, but he took a breath and made some big pitches right there at the end."

Martinez, in the onfield Rays.TV interview, said it's been a team effort.

"We've got some dawgs," he said. "We've got some dawgs throwing the ball, and it's showing. We're playing really well, we're playing for each other and it's a lot of fun."

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 9:16 PM.