Rays fizzle out as Astros rally late, then score walk-off win in 9th

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Jul 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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HOUSTON — The Tampa Bay Rays had a lot to celebrate Saturday.

Four of their players were named to the American League All-Star team, and Junior Caminero extended his remarkable home run binge to 11 over his last 11 games.

And it seemed like there was more to come as they raced out to an early lead over the Houston Astros and were up by three with nine outs to go.

But after an uncharacteristically unimpressive start by Drew Rasmussen, the bullpen that has been so good had a bad night, allowing the Astros to tie the score in the seventh and then walk it off in the ninth when Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer off Casey Legumina.

The 10-8 final score snapped the Rays’ nine-game winning streak, their longest since opening the 2023 season 11-0.

The seventh started badly for Cole Sulser, who allowed a single to the No. 8 hitter, a double to the ninth, then walked leadoff man Jose Altuve to bring up uber-dangerous Alvarez with the bases loaded.

Garrett Cleavinger took over, with Alvarez delivering one run on a sac fly which, given his power and production numbers, actually wasn’t a bad outcome.

But then Cleavinger gave up a run-scoring single to ex-Ray Isaac Paredes, cutting the lead to 8-7. After Cleavinger fanned Christian Walker for the second out, manager Kevin Cash went to the pen for righty Craig Kimbrel to face pinch-hitter Zach Dezenzo.

That also didn’t work, as Dezenzo flared a single over first to make it 8-8.

Caminero became the first player to hit 11 or more homers over an 11-game span in a single season since Kyle Schwarber in 2021 and the 12th to do so in the modern era. Among the names on the list are Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Mike Schmidt and Harmon Killebrew.

Caminero’s homer gave Tampa Bay an early lead and, after the Astros took it right back on Alvarez’s two-run shot, the Rays rallied in each of the next three innings to build a 7-2 advantage.

In the second, they got a two-run homer from Richie Palacios.

In the third, after loading the bases on a single and two walks, they scored one run on a sac fly, one on a Jonny DeLuca single and a third when Cedric Mullins stole home on the back end of a double steal.

And in the fourth, they got another when Taylor Walls led off with a single, went to second on a walk and scored when Houston shortstop Nick Allen scooped Caminero’s fielder’s-choice grounder but threw the ball into right field.

A 7-2 lead with Rasmussen, who learned before the game he was a an All-Star for the second straight season, on the mound would normally seem pretty safe.

But not so much this night.

Rasmussen had a rough (by his standards) fourth inning, hitting leadoff man Christian Walker, then allowing a two-out homer to Taylor Trammell.

He got off to a bad start in the fifth, walking No. 9 hitter Nick Allen, allowing a double to Altuve and an RBI single to Alvarez cutting the lead to 7-5. But he worked hard to keep it there, getting Paredes on a line out and Walker to ground into a double play.

The Rays extended the lead to 8-5 when DeLuca homered with one out in the seventh.

Rasmussen, who allowed three runs in 33 innings over five June games, gave up a season-high matching five in five innings Saturday.

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