Junior Caminero meets his hero — SD 13, TB 5

Yandy Diaz exits game with knee injury.

As you can tell from the headline, this was a game worth missing — and lets be honest, most of us probably did because the game was broadcast on AppleTV...

The only worthwhile highlight from this game happened beforehand, when the future of Rays baseball — Junior Caminero — got to meet his childhood hero, third baseman Manny Machado:

During the game, Yandy Diaz had to leave the game with what the team immediately announced as “left knee patellar tendinitis” which makes it sound like he’s been playing hurt, as that’s a fairly specific diagnosis.

With rosters expanding this weekend for the final month, it could mean the end of his season, and possibly even the end of his Rays career, given the team’s penchant for trading star players, but hopefully he can return before the end of the year both for a proper send off and to prove his injury is nothing serious.

Diaz is under contract for $10 million next season, then has a team option for 2026. Other players making similar money will be Jeffrey Springs ($10.5M in ‘25 and ‘26) and Brandon Lowe ($10.5M option, with another option for 2026). The writing is likely on the wall for all three so enjoy their best performances — like this homerun from Yandy Diaz earlier in the game — while you can!

There’s not much else from this game you want to reflect on. Taj Bradley got tagged for 8 earned runs in 2.1 IP. Erasmo Ramirez had to pitch. For those of you with your minds on Fantasy Football, he’s the Jacoby Brissett of Major League Baseball. But there was this nifty play by Taylor Walls:

Read more from MLB.com for good player quotes:

• ‘Dreams come true’: Caminero, Machado swap jerseys
• Taj takes lumps in August after ace-like July