For three games, the heart of the Tampa Bay Rays’ order looked nothing like the group that carried the club to 98 wins and an AL East title. On Saturday night at Progressive Field, it looked like itself again.
Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda combined to go 6-for-14 with five RBIs, Nick Martinez spun 5⅓ innings of one-run ball, and the Rays took full advantage of two Cleveland defensive miscues to beat the Guardians 7-3 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The best-of-seven series is now tied at two games apiece, with Game 5 set for Sunday afternoon in Cleveland and Game 6 guaranteed for Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
There was no travel day to reset anything, either. Friday’s Game 4 was postponed by rain, forcing both clubs straight from a cold, soggy Friday into a frigid Saturday with the series on the line.
Los Tres Pequeños Come Up Huge
Rays manager Kevin Cash had a running joke for the moment his three biggest bats went cold. Before Game 4, he’d been needling Caminero, Diaz and Aranda with a mock nickname: Los Tres Pequeños — the three little ones.
“It’s kind of a dig at them and protecting the rest of the lineup,” Cash said. “So when they don’t hit on a given night, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I got my three Pequeños hitting.’ Yandy, Cammy and Aranda, they’ve all heard it.”
The trio had heard plenty of it through the first three games of the ALCS. Tampa Bay’s first four hitters — Diaz, Aranda, Chandler Simpson and Caminero — went 7-for-41 with three RBIs over those games. On Saturday, they collected six of the Rays’ 11 hits and drove in six runs.
Aranda, who entered the night 0-for-10 in the series, went 3-for-4. His biggest swing came in a three-run seventh inning, after Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls singled and pulled off a double steal. After Diaz struck out, Aranda lined a single past a diving Travis Bazzana at second base and into right field. Palacios scored easily. Then the ball skipped under the glove of right fielder Chase DeLauter, Walls came around from second, and Aranda kept running all the way to third. He scored moments later on Simpson’s sacrifice fly.
Diaz, the most productive of the three during the early-series slump, went 2-for-5 and capped the win with a two-run homer off Matt Festa in the ninth — his first home run of the postseason, a drive that barely cleared the wall in right field.
“A lot of really good at-bats. A lot of hard hits,” Cash said. “But overall, just happy that Junior squared some balls up, Aranda came through in a big way for us and then Yandy there at the end with a two-run, add-on homer.”
Caminero Answers After a Four-Strikeout Night
No Ray needed a night like Saturday more than Caminero, the 23-year-old third baseman and AL MVP candidate who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Game 3, a 3-2 Cleveland win in which the majors’ lowest-strikeout team fanned 13 times.
He nearly changed the game’s shape in the third inning. Caminero launched a 110.7 mph fly ball to center field with a 29-degree launch angle that traveled 410 feet — and Petey Halpin somehow hauled it in at the wall. According to ESPN Research, the ball carried a 1.000 expected batting average, would have been a home run in 17 of 30 ballparks, and became the first of 204 balls hit at least 110 mph with that launch angle in the Statcast era (since 2015) not to leave the yard.
Caminero said he thought it was gone “100%” — a blast that would have handed the Rays a 2-1 lead. Instead, he delivered that lead himself in the sixth, cracking a 110.2 mph line drive into the left-field corner for an RBI double off Daniel Espino. After pounding his chest and letting out a scream at second base, he put a finger to his lips toward the Cleveland crowd.
“Everybody knows me,” Caminero said. “Everybody was confused about the four strikeouts, and I said, ‘No, no. I know who I am.’ Everybody knows who I am. Everybody here gave me the support.”
Cash liked what he saw — and expects more. “Junior is great, and now it’s his turn to be great in the postseason,” he said. “Today was a big step in the right direction for him. I wouldn’t be surprised now if he catches fire and does a lot for us.”
Martinez Sets the Table, Peralta Closes the Door
The pitching side of the equation belonged to two right-handers in very different roles.
Martinez, pitching on a 46-degree night, allowed one run and two hits over 5⅓ innings with two walks and three strikeouts for his first postseason win. After DeLauter’s RBI single staked Cleveland to a 1-0 first-inning lead, Martinez retired 10 straight batters at one point before walking Bazzana with one out in the fifth. It was a fitting line for a pitcher who posted a 2.38 ERA in 16 road starts away from Tropicana Field during the regular season.
Then came the surprise. With one out and a runner on first in the sixth, out of the Tampa Bay bullpen walked Freddy Peralta — the two-time All-Star who started Game 2 of this series and threw six scoreless innings in a 3-1 Rays win.
The plan was simple. Peralta would have thrown a side session Saturday anyway, roughly midway between starts. Instead of a bullpen, the Rays turned it into a live, high-stakes setting. He’d been available in the same role Friday before the rainout pushed everything back a day.
“With a lot more intensity,” Peralta said with a smile. “I never throw my bullpens probably over 88 mph. So, that’s the only difference.”
It was his first relief appearance since Game 3 of the 2024 National League Wild Card Series, when he was with the Brewers against the Mets, and he leaned on his early Milwaukee years, when 45 of his 54 outings across the 2019 and 2020 seasons came in relief. On nine pitches, he got Steven Kwan to fly out to center, walked José Ramírez, then got DeLauter to fly out to end the inning with Tampa Bay’s 2-1 lead intact. His four-seam fastball averaged 97.5 mph and touched 99.1.
“He was all eager to come in and do it. Then showed why,” Cash said. “A lot of power. Got huge outs for us.”
Martinez put it more bluntly: “He saved me. He saved our game today.”
“I’m just a reliever,” Peralta joked to reporters afterward. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
Catcher Liam Hicks wasn’t surprised his teammate volunteered for the assignment. “He’s such a good person, such a good teammate,” Hicks said. “You can tell all he wants to do is win.”
Cleveland’s Errors Prove Costly
The Guardians’ defense, usually a strength, cracked at the worst times. DeLauter’s misplay in right turned Aranda’s single into a two-run, extra-base disaster. Bazzana, who hit his first postseason home run in the seventh, also committed a fielding error at second base on a rough night individually.
“It looked like it may have snaked on him or just skipped by him, took his eye off of it,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said of the DeLauter play. “A couple unfortunate plays for us tonight that we usually complete and just weren’t able to do it.”
Cleveland briefly made it interesting. Bazzana homered off Ian Seymour in the seventh and Brayan Rocchio added an RBI single as the Guardians closed to 5-3. Seymour was charged with two runs on four hits in the inning before Kevin Kelly, Cam Booser and Bryan Baker combined for two scoreless frames. Diaz’s ninth-inning homer removed any remaining doubt.
Shawn Armstrong opened for Cleveland and struck out one batter in the first before giving way to Foster Griffin. Espino took the loss after allowing the go-ahead run in the sixth.
What’s Next: Game 5 and a Guaranteed Game 6
Now the series turns to a Sunday swing game. Tampa Bay will hand the ball to ace Drew Rasmussen (1-0, 1.29 ERA this postseason), who allowed two runs over six innings with seven strikeouts in Game 1. Cleveland counters with rookie left-hander Parker Messick (0-2, 3.09 ERA), making his fourth postseason start after going five innings with three unearned runs in that Game 2 loss.
History favors the winner of Game 5 in a 2-2 series: those teams are 46-23, a 67% clip. And if the Rays take it, Peralta is the most likely starter for Monday’s Game 6 at Tropicana Field — a start he confirmed he’ll be ready for, even after his unexpected relief work.
“Amazing, man. It was a huge game for us, because now, we tied the series,” Peralta said. “We have the opportunity to win tomorrow again, and then go back to Tampa.”
Booser, for one, never doubted the big three would come around. “At some point you think they’re going to deliver, and they do,” he said. “So it’s good to see them get back on track and good to see us get back playing our ball.”
FAQ
What was the final score of ALCS Game 4 between the Rays and Guardians?
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Saturday night at Progressive Field, evening the American League Championship Series at two games apiece.
Who were the standout performers for the Rays in Game 4?
Jonathan Aranda went 3-for-4 with two RBIs after starting the series 0-for-10, Yandy Diaz went 2-for-5 with a two-run ninth-inning homer, and Junior Caminero hit an RBI double after a four-strikeout Game 3. Nick Martinez earned his first postseason win with 5⅓ innings of one-run ball.
Why did Freddy Peralta pitch in relief in Game 4?
Peralta was scheduled for a bullpen side session between starts, so the Rays converted it into a live relief appearance. He recorded two key outs in the sixth inning on nine pitches, his first relief outing since the 2024 NL Wild Card Series, and remains the likely Game 6 starter.
When and where are ALCS Games 5 and 6?
Game 5 is Sunday in Cleveland, with Drew Rasmussen starting for Tampa Bay against Cleveland rookie Parker Messick. Game 6 is Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.