Apr 20, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) throws to first base in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images We’ve all had that moment when we’ve spotted an open parking space, only to loop around and realize someone else slid into it before you got there.

Thursday night’s Tampa Bay Rays game against the Cincinnati Reds had a similar feeling. Every time the Rays looked like they had an opening, Cincinnati beat them to it with a timely swing, a key defensive play, or a mistake Tampa Bay could not get ahead of.In the end, the Reds had handed the Rays a 6-1 loss, and the frustrating part was not that Tampa Bay never had a chance. It was that they had a few.

A pretty good one in the first inning, especially. A couple more scattered later. But the baseball gods are not especially generous to teams that waste baserunners, and the Rays spent most of this game learning that lesson the hard way.Jesse Scholtens got TJ Friedl to flyout to start the night, but then Matt McLain doubled and Elly De La Cruz moved him over to third with a groundout.

That brought up Sal Stewart, who did exactly what hitters should do when you give them a pitch across the center of the plate. He sent a two-run homer out to center, and just like that the Rays were playing from behind before the bottom of the first even arrived.Sal Stewart launches his eighth home run of the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/ExcullBvTd— MLB (@MLB) April 20, 2026To their credit, the Rays came out swinging in the bottom half. Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero singled.

Jonathan Aranda walked and the bases were loaded, nobody out. These are the moments when fans turn to other fans and say something along the lines of, “Alright, here we go.”And then the Rays scored just one run.Yandy Díaz drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Simpson and cut the Reds lead to 2-1, which was helpful, sure, but also felt like leaving a buffet with one dinner roll and an appetite. Jake Fraley struck out.

Cedric Mullins struck out. Nick Fortes grounded into a force play. Bases loaded, no outs, one run. That was the first big opening, and probably the biggest one, and the Rays let it pass right by.The second inning was quieter, although Taylor Walls did provide one of the more exciting defensive highlights of the night with a diving stop on Tyler Stephenson’s grounder.

Unfortunately, the Rays followed that nice moment with a quick bottom half, and the game settled into an uncomfortable rhythm. Tampa Bay would make a play, maybe get a man on, hint at something, and then Cincinnati would slam the door before anything could really develop.Your browser does not support the video tag. Download the video.The third inning was when De La Cruz started making his presence known for the Rays.After Friedl doubled again, the Reds got another chance, and De La Cruz made sure it counted.

His two-out RBI single to right scored Friedl and stretched the lead to 3-1. That alone stung, but the rest of the inning and the bottom half added a little extra irritation, because De La Cruz kept popping up in the middle of things. In the bottom of the third, Caminero hit a grounder that looked like it had some potential, only for De La Cruz to make a diving stop and throw him out.

A few pitches later, Yandy Díaz grounded into a double play, and another inning disappeared.Elly De La Cruz couldn't stop smiling after he robbed Junior Caminero of a hit.Caminero wasn't having any of it pic.twitter.com/dd1ICa7nvx— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 21, 2026That was really the shape of the middle innings. Jake Fraley doubled in the fourth and made it to third with one out, but the Rays could not bring him home. Chandler Simpson singled in the fifth, and again nothing came of it.Then came the sixth, and that was where frustrating turned into self-inflicted.Sal Stewart popped out to start the inning, but Eugenio Suárez singled and Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch.

One out, two on, game still technically within reach. Then Tyler Stephenson hit a ground ball to Caminero at third. In that situation, with the lead runner there for the taking, the play is in front of you before the ball is even hit.Instead, Caminero threw to first.Junior Caminero forgets the amount of outs and throws it to 1st instead of going for the double playThe Reds immediately cashed in on the mistake and score 2 more runs making it 5-1 Reds#RaysUppic.twitter.com/0O8SCYWO3j— Rays Today (@rays2day) April 21, 2026Yes, it got an out.

No, it was not the right out. Suárez moved to third, Steer moved to second, and the Reds suddenly had two runners in scoring position with two outs instead of a much cleaner situation. Moments later, Rece Hinds lined a two-run double to left, and the score jumped to 5-1. That decision mattered, and the Reds cashed it in immediately.That, at least, brought the one good moment of the n