To Cleveland, with love: Caminero, Díaz go deep vs. former org.  

CLEVELAND -- At different points in time, it looked like Progressive Field would be Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero’s long-term home in Major League Baseball.

And while that didn’t end up being the case thanks to Cleveland trading them to the Rays early in their career, that didn’t stop them from putting on a show on Monday in their returns to the park as visitors, as they both went deep -- Caminero doing so twice -- in the Rays’ 9-0 win.

“I’m running out of things to say about him,” manager Kevin Cash said of Caminero. “It’s fun to watch; we get the best seat in the house.”

Caminero’s first home run gave the Rays a 4-0 lead, as he punished a mistake by Tanner Bibee and sent a fastball out a Statcast-projected 412 feet to dead-center field for a two-run shot in the fifth inning.

His second home run was a solo shot off Tim Herrin in the seventh that snuck just over the 19-foot wall in left field following a 38-minute rain delay.

“He went down and got that ball out of the zone and got the barrel to it,” Cash said.

With the home runs, Caminero passed Logan Morrison to tie Brandon Lowe (2021) and Carlos Pena (2009) for the second-most homers in a single season in Rays history (39) -- with Pena posting 46 in 2007. He passed Frank Robinson to tie Cody Bellinger for the fourth-most home runs in a season by a player age 21 or younger, and he has tied Pena’s franchise record for the most home runs by a player before the end of August.

“I knew he had this in him; he was the best hitter I saw through everything,” said Carson Williams, who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and played with Caminero in the Minors. “I knew he was going to be so special, and days like this show it.”

Caminero also has the second-most home runs in a season by a Dominican-born player before turning 23, behind Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 42 homers in 2021. He will finish this season one day younger than Tatis was at the end of the '21 season.

Caminero finished the day 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double and a single.

“I’ve been working a lot. I have been saying since Spring Training that the only thing I want for this season is to stay healthy, and you’re seeing the results of that,” Caminero said via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez.

Díaz added insult to injury before Caminero's second homer when he hit a Statcast-projected 384-foot home run to left field in the seventh inning on a Bibee changeup over the heart of the plate. Díaz has 22 home runs on the season, tying the career high he set in 2023.

While each player’s journey with Cleveland ended differently, each left in a trade the Guardians’ front office would likely want back. Díaz played in just 88 games with Cleveland across the 2017 and ’18 seasons before he was dealt to the Rays in a three-team trade with the Mariners.

Caminero was acquired from Cleveland as a Minor Leaguer after the 2021 season in exchange for Tobias Myers. He earned his first MLB callup in 2023 and became MLB’s top prospect last August.

“I’m always thankful to them for being the organization that gave me an opportunity, but it was sweetest to get the win today,” Caminero said through Rodriguez

Díaz’s homer was another strong showing for him against his former club. He is a career .303 hitter in 22 games (21 starts) against Cleveland. He has four career home runs at Progressive Field, tied with Boston's Fenway Park and the O's Camden Yards for the second most he has at any visiting ballpark. Díaz has five career homers at Yankee Stadium.

“Every home run is special, but it felt good to hit one here,” he said through Rodriguez.

The Rays' power display backed up an excellent start from Ian Seymour, who tossed five scoreless innings. He allowed one hit -- a Brayan Rocchio single -- and struck out eight.

While Seymour entered the start with a 3.86 ERA in 12 career appearances, Monday marked his first career Major League start. It marked the first time a left-hander started for the Rays since Tyler Alexander did so on Sept. 26, 2024, against the Tigers.

“I don’t know if I could have written it up any better in terms of my command and execution,” Seymour said. “I was pretty happy with that.”