This was supposed to be a coronation. Junior Caminero, the Rays' 22-year-old third baseman, was voted in as the AL's starting third baseman for the 2nd straight year, edging Blue Jays slugger Kazuma Okamoto with 66% of the fan vote. He was on pace to become the first player in Tampa Bay franchise history to start back-to-back All-Star Games, riding a season where he's hit .279 with 28 home runs, 59 RBI and a June that earned him AL Player of the Month honors. Then Riley O'Brien's 3rd-inning fastball had other plans.
Junior Caminero is out of the game after this hit by pitch
The pitch, clocked at 97.6 mph, caught Caminero on the left pinkie/hand area, and the reaction told you everything — he winced immediately and headed straight for the tunnel instead of first base. It's the kind of moment that sucks the air out of an exhibition game real quick, because everyone watching knows a broken hand can wreck a season in an instant for a guy in the middle of a breakout campaign.
The good news arrived fast: X-rays came back negative, no broken bones, and Caminero is considered day-to-day. Miguel Vargas came off the bench to replace him at third and wound up going deep in the 8th inning as the AL rolled to a 4-0 win, but that's a footnote next to the injury scare. There was also a nice moment out of it — O'Brien reportedly walked into the AL clubhouse afterward to check on Caminero, the kind of gesture that cuts through the competitive edge of an All-Star Game nobody really needs to win.
For the Rays, this is the part where you exhale but stay cautious. Caminero has been the engine of their lineup all year, and losing him for any real stretch heading into the 2nd half would be a gut punch for a team that's leaned on his power surge. Day-to-day is the best-case outcome here, but until he's back in the box against live pitching, Tampa Bay fans are going to be watching his hand every time he swings.