Rays' Caminero is youngest player to homer in 6 straight games

Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero has crushed his way into the record books.

Caminero homered in a sixth consecutive game Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals. The 22-year-old is now the youngest player since 1900 to accomplish the feat, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com. He surpassed the mark of Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who was 23 years old when he homered in a MLB record-tying eight straight games during the 1993 season.

Caminero wasted no time extending the streak, ripping a two-run homer in the top of the first off Royals starter Seth Lugo.

This latest blast was Caminero's ninth homer in his last eight games, the most ever in an eight-game span for a player aged 22 or younger in the modern era, per Langs.

Caminero is the 26th player in MLB history to hit a homer in exactly six consecutive games, according to Ed Eagle of MLB.com. He's the second player in Rays history to do it, joining Carlos Peña in 2010. This is the first six-game homer streak since Rafael Devers, then with the Red Sox, had one in May 2024.

The all-time record for consecutive games with a homer is eight, accomplished by three players: Griffey, the Yankees' Don Mattingly in 1987, and the Pirates' Dale Long in 1956. Six players have recorded seven-game homer streaks before falling short of the record; the most recent player to accomplish this was Mike Trout in September 2022.

Caminero, who will turn 23 on Sunday, is slashing .296/.386/.566 with 24 homers and 54 RBIs over his first 360 plate appearances in 2026. The slugger announced Tuesday that he'll take part in this year's Home Run Derby on July 13 in Philadelphia.

Caminero's historic homer also stood up as the game-winning hit for the Rays, who shut out Kansas City 4-0 to record their seventh straight win. This made him the first player in MLB history to homer in six consecutive team wins, according to OptaStats.