Two-run homers send Rays past Guardians into World Series

St. Petersburg, Florida – Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz each belted a two-run homer, helping the Tampa Bay Rays advance to the World Series for the third time in franchise history with a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.

The Rays recorded their third straight win to capture the American League Championship Series in six games.

Tampa Bay will visit Milwaukee for Game 1 of the World Series on Friday. The host Brewers won two of the three games against the Rays in the regular season in a series played March 30-April 1.

Tampa Bay was unsuccessful in its previous two trips to the Fall Classic. The Rays fell in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

Caminero celebrated his first career postseason homer by emphatically slapping his chest before rounding first base and posing with his arms folded at home plate. The latter gesture was a nod to former Tampa Bay slugger Randy Arozarena, who was in the crowd on Monday at Tropicana Field.

Diaz, who guaranteed after Game 5 that “we’re going to win tomorrow,” provided the exclamation point in the eighth inning on Monday with a homer over the left field wall.

Tampa Bay’s Richie Palacios, who began his career with Cleveland, laced a two- run double into the right-center-field gap in the second inning to open the scoring.

That was enough offense for Freddy Peralta (2-0), who allowed one run on five hits and three walks while striking out three in 5⅓ innings. He went 2-0 in three appearances (two starts) during the ALCS, yielding one run on nine hits in 12 innings while striking out nine to earn ALCS MVP honors.

Cleveland’s Nathaniel Lowe had an RBI single in the sixth inning, and Rays reliever Ian Seymour issued a bases-loaded walk to Patrick Bailey and then hit Angel Martinez with his next pitch to trim Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-3 in the eighth. Kevin Kelly relieved Seymour and struck out Brayan Rocchio on three pitches to end the inning.

After Diaz’s blast restored the Rays’ four-run lead, Bryan Baker retired the side in order in the ninth to end the game.

Caminero chased Cleveland opener Shawn Armstrong with a single to lead off the second inning. Chandler Simpson reached on a fielder’s choice off Tim Herrin (0-1) and promptly stole second base. Victor Mesa Jr. walked before both runners advanced a base and later scored on Palacios’ double.

Herrin permitted one run on one hit in two-thirds of an inning.

Tampa Bay tacked on one more in the third inning when Caminero scored on Jonny DeLuca’s sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.