Colt Emerson notches first career walk-off hit

Caminero destroyed a fourth-inning solo shot off Robbie Ray, his 37th of the season. That ties Yordan Alvarez for the American League lead. There was a lot of offseason discussion about the Rays having played in a minor-league park when Caminero hit 45 homers a season ago. But he’s proving to be an annual 40-plus homer threat even at Tropicana Field. Kyle Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani are the only hitters with more home runs than Caminero over the past two seasons.

Rasmussen struck out six and walked two as the Rays went on to win 5-4 in 11 innings. The 31-year-old is up to 146 1/3 innings this season, putting him on track to blow past last year’s career high of 150. Tampa Bay will also play in the postseason, which could extend his total depending on how far they advance. Rasmussen’s 2.95 ERA in 2026 is right in line with his career 2.91 mark entering Sunday. He’ll draw a road matchup against the Rangers next time out.

Ray struck out four and walked three. He was in line for the victory until Mason Miller gave up a two-run homer in the ninth. The fly ball was in Samad Taylor’s glove before it went over the wall. The lone run Ray surrendered was a solo homer from Junior Caminero. The veteran lefty was acquired from the Giants at this summer’s trade deadline, and he’s now allowed two runs or fewer in four of his five starts with the Padres. He’s scheduled to face the Yankees at home next time out.

The fly ball traveled into the shallow left-field corner and was in Samad Taylor’s glove before going over the wall, tying the game at three. San Diego then took a one-run lead in the 11th before Tampa Bay scored two in the bottom half to walk it off. Miller struck out two in his lone inning without walking anyone. He has a career-high 32 saves already this year, along with one of the 10 highest K-BB rates among qualified relievers since 2010.

Bogaerts’ two-RBI single came on a hard-hit grounder against Drew Rasmussen in the top of the fourth. The 33-year-old also picked up his 18th steal, giving him a good chance to beat his previous career high of 20, set last season. The speed has been much needed from a fantasy perspective, as his batting average has collapsed to .217 this season. Bogaerts hasn’t hit below .260 since he was a 21-year-old in 2014. He also hasn’t batted in the upper half of San Diego’s lineup since the first series out of the All-Star break this year, a concerning development for a player signed through 2033.

After four weeks of being stuck on 14 homers, Valdez has collected two in his last four games. He’s racking a lot more strikeouts than hits of late, but at least he has drawn some walks to keep his OBP up; he’s batted .197/.337/.325 with 40 strikeouts in 95 plate appearances this month. He’ll probably remain in the lineup most of the time until Ryan O’Hearn returns, something that’s at least a couple of weeks away from happening.

Ashcraft was yanked after 71 pitches today, which could be a sign that the Pirates are beginning to monitor his workload. He’s at 160 1/3 innings for the season, which is 42 more than his previous career high from last year. Because of that, he probably won’t be allowed to put in a full September. He’s due to make his next start Saturday against the Angels.

He was perfect, but his streak of 29 appearances with a strikeout concluded, as he induced two groundouts and an infield fly today. He’d fanned 55 of 106 batters in 27 2/3 innings since his previous K-less appearance on June 13. Montgomery is up to seven saves and is very clearly the preferred choice to close in Pittsburgh right now.

Liberatore struck out nine today for the second time in three starts. He’s now done that five times this year after never doing so in 53 career starts coming into 2026. Unfortunately, though, the extra strikeouts just haven’t brought Liberatore much success. Two more homers today took his season total to 25 in 134 2/3 innings, which is a big reason why he’s 5-13 with a 5.41 ERA. He’ll pitch in Colorado next weekend.

Gorman nearly got one today; his 360-foot flyout to right in the sixth would have been a homer in 21 ballparks, according to Statcast. With the Cardinals losing a third infielder to the IL on Sunday, Gorman figures to be looking at steady playing time against righties for a while. How he fares in September likely will determine whether he’s included in the Cardinals’ plans for 2027.