St. Petersburg, FL – Cedric Mullins, Junior Caminero, and Jonathan Aranda each homered as the Tampa Bay Rays returned to Tropicana Field to defeat the Chicago Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 25,114.
Kevin Kelly (1-1, 12.27 ERA) picked up the win and Bryan Baker notched his first save for the Rays who improve to 5-5 on the season. The Rays have won five of their last six home openers and improve to 16-13 in home openers in franchise history.
Jamison Taillon (0-1, 2.53 ERA) takes the loss for the Cubs who fall to .500 at 5-5. Taillon worked six innings allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out four and walking none. He made 83 pitches with 53 for strikes. He allowed home runs to Cedric Mullins and Junior Caminero, marking the first time he’s allowed two or more homers in a start since June 24, 2025. The Cubs now are 2-7 against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
McClanahan Control Issues Leads To Early Deficit
The Rays fell behind 2-0 in the second inning after Shane McClanahan issued three walks and a 2-out 2-RBI single to Nico Hoerner.
Rays Power Back To Take Lead In Bottom Of Second
The Rays came back in the bottom half of the inning as Cedric Mullins delivered his first home run of the season, a 2-run shot. Taylor Walls doubled, advanced to third on an infield single by Yandy Diaz, and scored on the wild throw from shortstop Dansby Swanson attempting to retire Diaz at first.
Caminero’s Homer Extends Rays Lead
Junior Caminero delivered an upper deck homer in the bottom of the third inning to extend the Rays lead to 4-2. It was Caminero’s second homer of the season and second in as many days. It was the 11th time in his career that he has homered in back-to-back games.
McClanahan Abbreviated Outing
Shane McClanahan worked just four innings allowing two earned runs on one hit while striking out five and walking four. He threw 69 pitches with 35 for strikes. In his first outing against the Brewers he worked 4.2-innings throwing 79 pitches. McClanahan departed with the Rays ahead 4-2.
Bullpen Solid, Aranda Homers
The Rays bullpen allowed just two earned runs over the final five innings. Kevin Kelly worked a scoreless fifth, Ian Seymour allowed one earned run in 1.1 innings of work, Hunter Bigge was scoreless through 1.2 innings, and Bryan Baker allowed a solo homer in the ninth. Jonathan Aranda gave the Rays some breathing room delivering a 2-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. It was Aranda’s third homer of the season.
Walls Returns, Williams Sent Down
Prior to the game Tampa Bay activated shortstop Taylor Walls from the injured list (oblique) and sent shortstop Carson Williams to their Triple-A affiliate Durham Bulls. Williams appeared in seven games with the Rays batting .167 (3-for-23) while striking out nine times.
Up Next For Rays:
The Rays will continue their three game series with the Cubs on Tuesday night at 6:40 p.m. Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 1.80 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays while the Cubs counter with Javier Assad. Assad is starting in place of Matt Boyd who landed on the injury list with a left bicep strain.
Home Sweet Dome
On the evening of October 9, 2024 Hurricane Milton blew through St. Petersburg and took the roof off of Tropicana Field. The damage was so severe that the Rays had to play the 2025 season at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
While the Rays were gone, the roof was rebuilt. A total of 24 panels were attached to the structure. Fans may notice a discoloration of the panels as the panels installed earlier in the process are lighter in color due to sun bleaching, others need more time in the Florida Sun to bleach white.
While the roof was the biggest part of the upgrade to the park, there are several other notable upgrades..
Rays Chief Executive Office Ken Babby couldn’t be happier for the fans. “I’m so excited for our fans” he said. “Today is their day, right?”
The work at the Trop was almost done, as Babby commented sayingk, “We’ve been in here painting. Literally, there is wet paint all over this building. There’s still drywall that was being
installed as of about half an hour ago.:
Getting the park ready for today was a team effort. “It’s a testament to the great work in the city of St. Petersburg, the Rays, our whole team. It’s an incredible moment.” Babby said. “I could not be more elated for our community and excited for this moment.”
The fan experience is so important to Babby and the Rays as he noted that fans have commented that ‘everybody brings their own stories’. Whether its having a kids birthday party, coming with a grandparent who might no longer be with us, or even coming on a first date. There are a wealth of memories that were created in this building.
The fan experience on Opening Day can only be described as special. A return to normalcy. A reflection on the past 18-months on how so much in each fans life has changed, some good, some bad. As Rays Radio’s Andy Freed said in his pre-game speech to the 24,114 in attendance, after everything that has transpired over the past 18 months…we all ended up here – on Opening Day.
It did just feel special and comfortable to be playing back at Tropicana Field.
