In Nelson Cruz's 19-year career, he played in seven All-Star games, crushed 464 homers, and drove in over 1,000 runs. However, he only played for the Rays for part of one season. In 2021, the iconic slugger joined Tampa Bay to hopefully aid them to a playoff push. They were eliminated by a red-hot Red Sox club in the ALDS, but few fans will forget the Dominican hitter's impact. Also, the Rays likely made their former teammate smile yesterday after completing a rare feat that he mastered throughout his career.
The Rays acquired Cruz in the middle of the 2021 campaign in a deal that included the Twins' current starting pitcher Joe Ryan. The idea was to add a power bat for their upcoming playoff expectations. The 40-year-old veteran did provide an extra thump with 13 home runs in 55 games. However, one of his best feats required the help of a teammate.
On September 7th, 2021, the Rays were playing another weekday game against their rival Red Sox. Although, in this particular game, the Rays homered five times, four of which were hit by only two players. Nelson Cruz and All-Star backstop Mike Zunino homered twice a piece en route to a 12-7 victory. That was only the second time this young franchise has accomplished this as Ryan Hanigan and former Rookie of the Year Wil Myers also went deep twice each against the Yankees in 2014.
Last night, two Rays' hitters completed this unlikely task for the third time in franchise history. In the first inning of their game against the Twins, Junior Caminero crushed a solo home run to dead center field. A few innings later, Caminero's power-happy teammate, Jonathan Aranda, also smoked a home run of his own. In Aranda's next at-bat, he hit another homer a few rows deeper off of former teammate Taj Bradley. Whether he knew it or not, Junior Caminero's next few at-bats were now on the line for history.
In the bottom of the 7th, Caminero hit another bomb to center field to complete the feat and give the Rays their third such occurence of two players hitting at least two home runs. Tampa Bay would go on to defeat the Twins 6-2, winning their 9th straight game against an AL opponent.