Junior Caminero homers and Victor Mesa Jr. triples twice as Rays beat Rockies 4-0 for 3-game sweep

By: Michael Kelly, The Associated Press Posted: 5:07 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

DENVER (AP) — Junior Caminero homered for the third time in the series, Victor Mesa Jr. tripled twice and the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on Wednesday for a three-game sweep.

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Nick Martinez pitched into the sixth inning to help Tampa Bay to its 11th sweep of the season. That’s the fourth most in franchise history and three short of the club record from 2021.

Martinez (11-3) bounced back from a rough outing against the Chicago White Sox on Friday and matched his career best in wins, set last season with Cincinnati. He allowed six hits and didn’t walk a batter in his fourth scoreless outing of the season and second in the last three starts.

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero heads up the first-base line after hitting a solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano in the third inning of a baseball game in Denver, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Martinez entered Wednesday with a 7.11 ERA in nine games — three starts — at Coors Field. He gave up two singles leading off the fourth but escaped when Jordan Beck grounded into an inning-ending double play.

He left after Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros singled in the sixth, putting runners on the corners with two outs, but Tyler Wells — making his Rays debut after being acquired from Baltimore — fanned TJ Rumfield to end the inning. Wells recorded four outs, all via strikeout.

Garrett Cleavinger and Cam Booser each pitched a scoreless inning to finish the shutout.

The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the first against Tomoyuki Sugano (11-5) when Jonathan Aranda followed Mesa’s first triple with an RBI single. Aranda scored on Chandler Simpson’s bloop single to left.

Sugano surrendered Caminero’s 33rd homer leading off the third but retired the next nine batters. He left after walking Liam Hicks to start the sixth.