Junior Caminero continues to shine with a Rays that do not let up

(AFP) With another brilliant performance by Dominican gem Junior Caminero, the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Seattle Mariners 9x4 on Wednesday and sealed their second consecutive sweep in Major League Baseball.

At 22, Caminero on Tuesday became only the second player in Rays history to reach 40 homers in a season.

A day later, the Santo Domingo pearl stayed on fire connecting for two hits, driving in two runs and scoring two more.

With his first hit, he drove Tampa Bay's initial run, which went on to take a 9x0 lead in the fifth inning.

In the sixth, the Mariners made up the score thanks to a three-run home run by fellow Dominican Julio Rodríguez.

Caminero has pushed across a total of eight runs in the three series wins over Seattle.

In all, the Rays accumulate six straight wins, adding the sweep in the previous series against the Washington Nationals.

"The hard work I've been putting in is paying off right now," Caminero declared. "More good things are going to happen in my career."

In Houston, the Astros defeated the New York Yankees 8x7 with a comeback commanded by Cuban Yordan Álvarez and Dominican Jeremy Peña.

Álvarez had four hits, his personal record, and Jeremy Peña another two and a home run.

The Texans, who trailed 4-for-1, rallied with a four-run blast in the eighth inning off reliever Devin Williams.

For the Yankees, Cody Bellinger signed a homer and towed in three runs and Aaron Judge was held to one hit in his five at-bats.

Their New York neighbors, the Mets, also succumbed 6x2 at the Detroit Tigers.

Dominican Juan Soto could only contribute one hit to the Queens ninth, while Pete Alonso added three.

In their game, the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 3x0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Shohei Ohtani, who canceled his opener at the last minute due to illness, took the bat and hit two hits and Freddie Freeman another, but the Angelenos went blank against the five home pitchers.