Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero celebrates his two-run home run off Houston Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu with Victor Mesa Jr. (25) during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Chris O’Meara/Associated Press
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, right, hugs manager Kevin Cash after the team defeated the Houston Astros during a baseball game Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Chris O’Meara/Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Junior Caminero leaned back to gauge the trajectory of the ball he had crushed and began a joyful trip around the bases. He exhorted a Rays dugout and a crowd that needed no invitation before flinging his helmet into the air and bounding the final feet toward home plate. One word framed the Tropicana Field videoboard as he did: “Clinched.”
A six-month season has reached that juncture. Two teams secured spots in baseball’s postseason Friday. Caminero ended a two-year playoff drought for Tampa Bay with his walk-off home run in the opener of a series against the Houston Astros, who are attempting their own return to the postseason. Work remains if they are to realize a moment like the one they just witnessed.
Houston
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
33
1
9
1
1
6
Altuve dh
4
0
1
0
0
0
.246
Peña ss
4
0
1
0
0
2
.271
Paredes 3b
4
1
1
0
0
2
.260
Varsho cf
4
0
1
0
0
1
.228
Diaz c
3
0
2
1
1
0
.272
Walker 1b
4
0
0
0
0
0
.227
Smith rf
4
0
1
0
0
1
.219
Trammell lf
3
0
1
0
0
0
.210
Allen 2b
3
0
1
0
0
0
.276
Tampa Bay
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
27
3
4
3
2
5
Díaz dh
4
0
0
0
0
2
.303
Aranda 1b
4
0
1
0
0
1
.276
1-DeLuca pr
0
1
0
0
0
0
.262
Caminero 3b
4
1
1
2
0
1
.279
Hicks c
3
0
0
0
0
0
.285
Mesa rf
2
1
1
1
1
0
.250
Simpson lf
3
0
0
0
0
0
.306
Mullins cf
3
0
0
0
0
1
.203
Palacios 2b
2
0
1
0
1
0
.230
Mateo ss
2
0
0
0
0
0
.210
Houston
000
100
000_1
9
0
Tampa Bay
000
010
002_3
4
0
One out when winning run scored.
1-ran for Aranda in the 9th.
LOB_Houston 6, Tampa Bay 2. 2B_Paredes (26), Aranda (24). HR_Mesa (13), off Pecko; Caminero (40), off Abreu. RBIs_Diaz (36), Mesa (28), Caminero 2 (95). SB_Palacios (14), Altuve (5), Mesa (9). CS_Mateo (4), Peña (2).
Runners left in scoring position_Houston 3 (Peña 2, Walker); Tampa Bay 2 (Simpson, Díaz). RISP_Houston 2 for 6; Tampa Bay 1 for 3.
Runners moved up_Allen. LIDP_Walker. GIDP_Altuve, Mateo.
DP_Houston 1 (Peña, Walker); Tampa Bay 2 (Aranda; Palacios, Aranda).
Houston
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Ullola
1
0
0
0
0
0
13
3.38
King
1
1-3
1
0
0
0
0
19
5.04
Pecko
5
2-3
1
1
1
2
4
75
4.30
Abreu, L, 6-4
1-3
2
2
2
0
1
9
3.86
Tampa Bay
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Rasmussen
7
8
1
1
0
4
92
2.81
Wells
1
1
0
0
0
1
9
2.41
Baker, W, 2-2
1
0
0
0
1
1
15
1.58
Inherited runners-scored_Pecko 1-0. HBP_Pecko (Mateo). PB_Hicks (0).
ABS Challenge_Rasmussen (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Pecko (Ball-Confirmed); Pecko (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Paredes (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Baker (Ball-Confirmed).
Umpires_Home, Jacob Metz; First, Mark Wegner; Second, Bruce Dreckman; Third, Carlos Torres.
T_2:22. A_16,217 (25,025).
The Astros emerged from their 3-1 loss Friday night still with a three-game lead in the American League West because of the Rangers losing in Arizona. Fourteen games remain on their schedule, including two more against the Rays, three against an Atlanta team with the National League’s second-best record and two against the struggling Mariners, who have vexed them.
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“There’s urgency,” manager Joe Espada said before Friday’s game. “There’s a level of confidence but also humility. … We’re playing some good teams. We’re competing against a league that everyone is bunched up. Everybody wants it really bad. We want it really bad also.”
In a largely uninspiring American League, the Astros lead a division that hosts no other team above .500 with a 75-73 record. A mark of 29-21 against teams currently above or at .500 is their saving grace and, perhaps, rationale for a possible playoff run. Recent series wins against the AL Central-leading White Sox, Yankees and Phillies — the latter two on the road — reinforced the idea.
If a meeting with the owners of the AL’s best record is another barometer, the opener perhaps distilled their current state. The Astros pitched gamely with a cast of mostly supporting arms. Their offense was subdued for most of the night. The result was their 77th game decided by one or two runs. They played the Rays closely until Caminero’s blast.
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Though they scored 15 runs in a just-finished three-game series in Philadelphia, an inconsistent offense is perhaps the Astros’ leading current issue. They’re averaging 3.9 runs per game since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, entering Friday with the fifth-fewest runs scored in the majors in that stretch. Friday was the 20th time in those 35 games they have scored three runs or fewer.
This one occurred without Yordan Alvarez, who turned his ankle running the bases Thursday, and whose absence alters the entire complexion of Houston’s lineup. It did total nine hits Friday, with all starters save Christian Walker recording at least one. Eight of those were singles, however, and the Astros went 2-for-6 with men in scoring position, with neither hit driving in a run.
One was a fifth-inning bunt single by Jose Altuve with a runner on second base and two outs. It moved a runner already in scoring position to third and essentially shifted the onus for driving him in to Jeremy Peña, who is navigating a prolonged funk. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen struck Peña out looking at a 1-2 sinker. It was the Astros’ final at-bat with a runner in scoring position on the night.
Peña, the Astros’ leadoff man and sparkplug when going right, is hitting .176 with a 31.9% strikeout rate since the trade deadline. He had an 18.6% strikeout rate this season before that. Peña and Espada have both attributed the increase to pitch selection, with Peña saying on the last homestand he has “kind of gotten away from my approach a little bit.”
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The reliance of Houston’s offense on Peña and Alvarez, who still leads the majors in OPS but has a .765 mark since the trade deadline, has been cast in sharp relief in that stretch, even with Isaac Paredes still producing at an above-average level. Paredes doubled for the Astros’ lone extra-base hit Friday, scoring on a fielder’s choice grounder.
Sporadic offense lowers the margin for error for a pitching staff that still has the majors’ seventh-highest ERA but has performed better of late. Astros pitchers have a 3.04 ERA over their last 15 games, and their starters a 2.70 ERA in that stretch.
That includes Miguel Ullola’s one inning as an opener Friday. Rather than start rookie Ethan Pecko, who was on turn, the Astros delayed his entry until the third inning, preferring to let Ullola face Yandy Díaz and Camerino in their first at-bats and have left-hander Bryan King navigate a run of five consecutive left-handed hitters in the middle of Tampa Bay’s lineup.
It worked ideally. Ullola, in his sixth major-league outing, pitched a clean first. King, who has struggled since July, retired his first four batters before a single ended his night. Pecko covered the next 5⅔ innings, the longest of the right-hander’s five major-league outings, while allowing one run on a solo homer by Rays right fielder Victor Mesa Jr.
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Given the Astros continue to pitch Pecko in meaningful games in a playoff race, it was encouraging. The Rays entered with the majors’ second-best OPS against right-handed pitching this season. Mesa’s home run was the only hit against Pecko, who faced 19 batters. Pecko used his cutter liberally against the Rays’ left-handed hitters, generated weak contact and issued just two walks.
“We saw a lot of that in the minor leagues where he used his fastball very effectively up in the zone and the cutter got in there to some of those left-handed hitters,” Espada said. “But for me it was the strike-throwing, it was on. He used his stuff really well.”
What role Pecko will play the next two weeks is uncertain. But using their two least experienced active pitchers, the Astros kept Tampa Bay in check for eight innings. Bryan Abreu warmed before the eighth, but Pecko returned to face the bottom of the Rays order. Josh Hader warmed before the ninth, but as it went to the bottom of the inning still tied, Abreu entered the game.
Jonathan Aranda’s one-out double presented the Astros with an apparent decision. Caminero is the AL home run leader. First base sat open. Abreu entered with a 1.00 ERA and no home runs allowed since the All-Star break, yet had the Astros put Caminero on first base and taken its chances with the ensuing left-handed hitters, his run would have meant nothing.
“No,” Espada said when asked if walking Caminero was a consideration. “Not with Abreu, his stuff, the way he’s been throwing the ball.”
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Caminero needed one pitch to propel his club into the postseason. The Rangers’ loss offered Houston a reprieve, as the walk-off did not cause its division lead to dwindle.
It did offer a reminder, though, that the Astros’ position is far from secure. And of the fearsome presence missing from their own lineup Friday. Caminero’s home run was his 40th of the season, putting him two ahead of Alvarez, who retains a realistic shot at a Triple Crown. Espada was unsure postgame if Alvarez, who missed just the third of 148 games this year, would play Saturday.
“I’m going to go check up on him now,” Espada said. “Hopefully he’s ready to go.”