HOUSTON — Junior Caminero broke a seventh-inning tie with his 25th home run of the season and Nick Martinez held the Astros to one run over 5 1/3 innings as the Tampa Bay Rays extended their winning streak to nine games with a 3-1 victory at Daikin Park.
Caminero, 22, has homered in seven of his last eight games dating back to June 25, when he hit three against Kansas City. Ten of his 25 home runs have come during that stretch. “I’m not looking for a home run, I’m looking to put it in play,” Caminero said. “Just help my team … Ten games, ten homers, pretty good.”
Martinez, 35, set down 10 of the first 14 batters he faced in his 17th start of the year, not allowing a hit until Cam Smith’s fourth-inning liner to right field. The lone run he surrendered came on Yordan Alvarez’s 27th home run of the season. He walked one and struck out three. “I feel like Nick’s locked in from pitch 1 to pitch 100, or whatever he gives us,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Nick Martinez was pretty masterful. Even when he fell behind some guys, he made some big pitches.”
Martinez has allowed three or fewer runs in 16 of his 17 starts, and one or fewer in 10 of those outings. His road ERA dropped to 2.12 through eight starts, with 27 strikeouts and just 11 runs surrendered in 46 2/3 innings — numbers that have him eyeing the first All-Star Game nod of his nine-year big league career. “He’s been unbelievable,” said June American League Pitcher of the Month Drew Rasmussen. “He’s been absolutely incredible, not just his ability to limit runs, but the depth he gives us and just the quality he gives us every five days have been huge for this group.”
Astros manager Joe Espada credited Martinez’s arsenal. “Just the pitches — he’s got a sinker, he’s got a four-seam, the changeup is almost 20 mph different than his fastball. It just keeps you off balance,” Espada said. “We’ve seen him before. He’s done that before against us and we couldn’t get much going offensively against him or any of their guys.”
No. 9 hitter Nick Fortes provided the Rays’ other offense, launching a Statcast-projected 391-foot solo homer off the signage above the Tampa Bay bullpen in the sixth inning and lining a two-out RBI double in the eighth. “Any time I can contribute with the bat is a good thing,” Fortes said. “To be able to plate two runs tonight felt really good.”
Kevin Kelly, Casey Legumina and Bryan Baker combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen after Martinez departed, with Baker recording his 23rd save in 26 opportunities. “Really pleased with the guys,” Cash said. “I think it’s surrounded by our pitching. Started off by that and preventing runs. But we’re getting some big hits, we separated a couple of games, but the timely hitting has been right on point.” The Rays continue their series in Houston with the clubs set to meet again Saturday.