Junior Caminero’s grand slam powers Rays to 7-2 win over Cardinals

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Junior Caminero hit his second career grand slam to power the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday after a 4-hour, 25-minute rain delay that emptied most of the announced crowd of 8,809 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

The Rays (63-67) took two of three games in the series and are 5-5 over their last 10. The Cardinals (64-67) finished a 3-3 trip to Miami and Tampa.

Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore, once a Rays prospect, walked Josh Lowe and Carson Williams to open the fifth inning. After getting one out, Liberatore issued another walk to Chandler Simpson that loaded the bases and ended his outing.

Matt Svanson entered and gave up Caminero’s 381-foot slam to right field on his first pitch.

The homer was Caminero’s 37th of the year, surpassing Alex Rodriguez for the most in one season by an American League player 21 or younger. Simpson added a two-run triple in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-0 and continue his strong rookie campaign.

Christopher Morel hit his 10th homer in the fourth to get the Rays going.

Liberatore (6-11) was charged with four runs on three hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. Ryan Pepiot (9-10) earned the win for Tampa Bay, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.

During the rain delay, the Cardinals scratched shortstop Masyn Winn because of left knee pain that has been bothering him for weeks.

The Rays improved to 50-33 when Caminero gets a hit. They are 9-32 when he goes hitless.

The Cardinals return home to face Pittsburgh, with Michael McGreevy (5-2, 4.42 ERA) on the mound for St. Louis. The Rays head to Cleveland, with Ian Seymour (1-0, 3.86) scheduled to make his first major league start.

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