Caminero Homers in Sixth Straight as Rays Roll Sport By lines July 2, 2026 Junior Caminero will not stop hitting home runs. The Tampa Bay slugger homered in his sixth straight game on July 1. The two-run shot beat the Kansas City Royals 4-0. Caminero Chases the MLB Home Run Streak Record Junior Caminero launched his 24th home run of the season on July 1. The two-run blast came in the first inning off Royals starter Seth Lugo. Jonathan Aranda had singled with one out before the swing. Tampa Bay won 4-0 for its seventh straight victory. Seth Lugo fell to 3-6 with the loss. The home run tied Carlos Pena’s Tampa Bay record of six straight games, set in 2010. Junior Caminero now sits two games short of the MLB record of eight. Dale Long set that mark in 1956. Don Mattingly matched the record in 1987, and Ken Griffey Jr. did the same in 1993. No player has ever homered in nine straight games. Junior Caminero owns a piece of history at 22 years old. The Rays third baseman became the youngest player to homer in six straight games. Caminero passed Ken Griffey Jr. for that distinction. Only three hitters in MLB history have homered in eight straight games. Caminero has two more chances to join that group. The streak matters for a Rays team chasing October. Tampa Bay has won seven in a row behind the surge. Caminero’s 24 home runs pace the lineup near the season’s midpoint. Two more home runs in a row would give Caminero the outright MLB record. The Rays have climbed the standings on the back of that seven-game run. Tampa Bay sits in the thick of the American League playoff race. The chase places Junior Caminero among the rarest company in the sport’s history. Dale Long homered in eight straight games for the Pirates in 1956. Don Mattingly matched the feat for the Yankees in 1987. Ken Griffey Jr. did the same for the Mariners in 1993. Caminero would become just the fourth player to reach eight with two more blasts. Junior Caminero carries the streak into the Rays’ next game against Kansas City. A home run there would extend the run to seven straight games. That result would leave Caminero one game shy of the MLB record of eight. The All-Star break arrives in mid-July, but Caminero has already rewritten the Tampa Bay record book. Every Caminero at-bat now doubles as a shot at history. Related Sports Coverage Yankees Drop Sixth Straight as Slump Deepens Dave Roberts Sets MLB Record With 1,000th Win Ohtani Set To Return To Mound Wednesday Vs Rays The Associated Press reported the details of Caminero’s sixth straight home run game. The Tampa Bay Times confirmed the franchise record and the seven-game win streak.
