Caminero correctly calls Siri's homer with pregame prediction

ST. PETERSBURG -- Junior Caminero did it all on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.

In the fourth inning alone, the Rays’ rookie third baseman perfectly timed his leap to snare a 100.4 mph line drive from Masataka Yoshida, then smashed a fastball well above the strike zone out to left field for his fourth home run of the season.

But his most impressive feat might have taken place hours before Shane Baz’s first pitch of the night. When teammate Jose Siri walked into Tampa Bay’s clubhouse, Caminero greeted him with a prediction.

“I told him, ‘You're going to hit a homer,’” Caminero said, with Rays communications director Elvis Martinez translating. “I told him, ‘You look good today. I feel you. Good vibes.’”

Sure enough, Siri launched a go-ahead homer down the left-field line off Nick Pivetta during the four-run fifth inning, and added a bases-clearing double in the eighth that broke open the Rays’ 8-3 win over the Red Sox.

“When I walked in, Caminero told me that he liked my vibe today, how I looked and everything,” Siri said through Martinez. “And then [Christopher] Morel said it, too. Good energy all around today.”

Despite being three games below .500 (74-77) and six games out of the American League Wild Card race, the Rays had a lot to feel good about as they began their final homestand of the season.

First and foremost was the performance of Baz, who held Boston to two runs (both on Triston Casas’ second-inning homer) and completed seven innings on 96 pitches.

Baz allowed only two hits and a walk, struck out six and retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced after Casas’ home run. He featured a dominant fastball, inducing 10 of his career-high 18 swinging strikes with his heater, and complemented it with an effective curveball, slider and changeup.

“He was the key to all of it tonight. He's been on a really impressive run,” manager Kevin Cash said. “I think when he hits a little adversity in the game, we're seeing him better after that. That's a sign of a really good pitcher that's able to kind of dial it in, lock it in.”

The 25-year-old right-hander owns a 2.03 ERA over his last five starts, and he’s thrown at least five innings while allowing three hits or fewer in each of those outings. No player in franchise history has matched that feat, and only three other pitchers in the Majors -- Bowden Francis, Hunter Greene and Drew Thorpe -- have done it this season.

As they spend the final two weeks of this season looking toward the future, the Rays can find hope in the potential of a young rotation that should finally feature a full season of Baz.

“They’ve done such a good job just helping me stay in a groove and figure out what's working and what I can kind of change,” Baz said. “Super happy with just being able to stay healthy and super blessed that I can just have the opportunity to go out there.”

The Rays backed Baz with a rare display of power, registering their fourth four-homer game of the season and their first multi-homer game at the Trop since July 27.

In the fourth, Caminero clubbed an 0-2 fastball at the letters from Pivetta that went a projected 392 feet with an exit velocity of 107 mph. The pitch was 4.05 feet off the ground, according to Statcast, tied for the seventh-highest pitch hit out of the park this season.

“I felt good that at-bat. Glad that I was able to be a spark for the team,” Caminero said. “He left the fastball high, and I was trying not to do too much, and I connected.”

Josh Lowe, one of many Rays in need of a confidence-boosting strong finish, started Tampa Bay’s four-run fifth with a game-tying, opposite-field shot to left. With two outs, Siri made Caminero’s prediction come true by smacking his 18th homer over the short fence in left.

They didn’t stop there. Yandy Díaz doubled, chasing Pivetta, then Brandon Lowe greeted lefty reliever Bailey Horn by blasting a two-strike sweeper out to right field for his team-leading 19th homer.

The Rays even managed to find the kind of timely hit that has so often eluded them all season. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Siri put the game away with a bloop to left that landed just in front of a diving Tyler O’Neill for a three-run double.

“Sometimes you don't have to hit it over the fence. You don't have to hit it that hard,” Cash said. “But if you find turf or grass, good things can happen. And fortunately for us, we had some guys on base to capitalize.”