New haircut buys Caminero a big night in LA

LOS ANGELES -- On the Rays’ last day in Oakland, manager Kevin Cash offered some big league advice for top prospect Junior Caminero. If he got his hair cut, he’d get more hits.

Sure enough, Caminero arrived at Dodger Stadium on Friday with a little less hair sticking out of his cap and batting helmet.

Shorn enough, the hits came in a big way.

Caminero crushed his first home run of the season and smashed a 111 mph double within the first three innings of Friday night’s series opener. But baseball’s brightest star stole the show in the end, as Shohei Ohtani swiped his 40th base and smashed a walk-off grand slam off Colin Poche to secure the sixth 40-40 season in MLB history and a 7-3 win for the Dodgers.

"He said it, and so I had to do it,” Caminero said about the haircut suggestion with a smile through interpreter Manny Navarro. "He might have been joking around a little bit, but for me, if he says it, then I'm doing it."

It was a crushing defeat for the Rays, one that dropped them back to the .500 mark for the Major League-leading 30th time. But Tampa Bay’s first trip to Dodger Stadium since Sept. 17-18, 2019, began with great promise, thanks in large part to Caminero.

As is the case with most special hitters, the ball sounds different coming off Caminero’s bat. The 21-year-old prospect possesses elite bat speed and tremendous raw power, leading to tape-measure shots and plenty of loud contact.

That sound rang out through Chavez Ravine twice on Friday night.

Facing right-hander Bobby Miller in the first inning, Caminero went up to blast a high, two-strike fastball at the top of the strike zone to center field. The pitch clocked in at 99.6 mph coming in and went a projected 417 feet at 109.2 mph, according to Statcast.

"I was up there looking for a pitch that I can attack,” Caminero said. “We didn't get the results that we wanted, but we've just got to keep going."

Then the rookie third baseman hit the ball even harder his next time up. With two outs in the third inning, Caminero ripped a hanging full-count curveball to the gap in right-center field for his first double of the season.

According to Statcast, the last Rays player with two hits of at least 109.2 mph in the same game was Yandy Díaz, who smashed a pair of hard-hit singles on April 24, 2023. Caminero pounded the ball again in the eighth, although his 112.6 mph smash off Evan Phillips resulted in a groundout.

“It’s loud. I mean, it's always been loud,” Cash said. “When he's locked in at the plate, we've got a really talented young player.”

Christopher Morel made the most of a two-out opportunity in the third, launching a two-run homer to left field off Miller to plate Caminero after his double. That swing produced Morel’s first home run and RBIs since July 31, his second game with Tampa Bay, and gave the Rays a 3-0 lead.

"Both those guys, there's a lot of talent sitting right there,” Cash said, “so happy that they had some success."

But that lead wouldn’t last. After working four shutout innings, lefty starter Tyler Alexander ran into trouble in the fifth and surrendered a game-tying homer by Kiké Hernández.

Meanwhile, the Rays’ bats went quiet. Tampa Bay struck out 13 times overall and managed only two hits after the third inning: a Taylor Walls single and a double by Brandon Lowe, the 500th hit of his career.

But relievers Richard Lovelady, Edwin Uceta and Garrett Cleavinger kept the game tied heading into the ninth. Then Manuel Rodríguez, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in 22 of his last 23 appearances, hit Will Smith and gave up a single and a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position.

Poche entered to face pinch-hitter Max Muncy with two outs, but the lefty’s command didn’t immediately follow him to the mound. Poche fell behind by firing three pitches into the dirt and walked Muncy, bringing up the Rays’ worst-case scenario: Ohtani with the bases loaded.

Looking to get ahead, Poche fired a first-pitch slider over the plate. The two-time MVP blasted it out to center, earning the fastest entry into the 40-40 club with his first career-walk off home run.

"The whole lineup up and down is dangerous, so the key is to be in the strike zone early, which I wasn't able to do,” Poche said. “It kind of backs you up against the wall, and I wasn't able to dig out of it with Muncy. Tried to kind of get ahead early on Ohtani, and he's an aggressive hitter early and put a good swing on it.”