PHILADELPHIA — Tampa Bay Rays slugger Junior Caminero looks like he’ll emerge from a scary moment at Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game without any lasting damage.
Caminero departed in the third inning after he was hit in the left hand by a tailing sinker from St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Riley O’Brien.
Caminero immediately hit the dirt after being caught by the 1-0 offering. He eventually sprang to his feet and jogged off the field into the American League dugout, as the Chicago White Sox’s Miguel Vargas came in as a pinch runner. Vargas stayed in the game at third base and hit a solo home run in the eighth inning as the AL All-Stars shut out the National League side 4-0 on three hits.
Caminero met with reporters four innings later and said X-rays were negative, and that he expected to be available when the Rays resume their schedule on Friday against the host Boston Red Sox.
“In the moment I was just scared, right?” Caminero said through an interpreter. “Kind of in that situation right then and there you’re thinking the worst, and I honestly thought something might have been broken, but look, you know, thank you to God that everything’s fine and you know, now it’s just a little bit sore, but we’re all good.”
Caminero, 23, made his second All-Star appearance. He has 28 home runs and 59 RBIs in 94 games this season for the Rays and is slashing .279/.372/.555.
He said O’Brien came to visit him in the clubhouse afterward.
“I really appreciate the gesture,” Caminero said. “He came into the clubhouse, and he took a few seconds to say he apologized.
“But I told him, ‘Look, it’s part of the game. He was really worried, but I told him, ‘Look, these things happen. We’re here to have fun. We’re here to enjoy the night.’”
Caminero reached the semifinals of the Home Run Derby on Monday night before he was eliminated by eventual winner Jordan Walker of the Cardinals. He connected on the event’s longest homer, a 491-foot shot to left-center.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
