Junior Caminero launches Rays into postseason with 2-run homer for walk-off win over Astros

Junior Caminero hit his 40th home run of the season to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-1 walk-off win over the Houston Astros on Friday. With the victory, the Rays became the first MLB team to clinch a postseason berth .

The Milwaukee Brewers soon joined them, becoming the first National League team to clinch a playoff spot with a 20-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds .

With the Rays and Astros tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Jonathan Aranda hit a one-out double off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu . Abreu then offered Caminero a 97-mph high fastball toward the middle of the strike zone, and Caminero blasted it into the left-field seats.

And the celebration began at Tropicana Field.

Tampa Bay returns to the postseason after finishing fourth in the AL East with losing records the past two seasons.

At 88-59, the Rays have the best record in the American League , three games better than the New York Yankees (85-62) and eight ahead of the Boston Red Sox (80-68). Only the Brewers (92-56) and Los Angeles Dodgers (90-57) have better records in MLB.

"Incredibly proud of this group, for sure," Rays manager Kevin Cash said in a postgame interview. "You know, [president of baseball operations] Erik [Neander] said it in the first meeting we had as a club, that there was a lot of belief in this room, and they went and backed it up."

Caminero's homer also moved him two ahead of Yordan Alvarez for the AL home run lead as the Astros slugger is pursuing MLB's first Triple Crown since 2012. Alvarez did not play Friday due to a sore right ankle injured while running the bases on Thursday.

Rays starter Drew Rasmussen allowed only one run despite giving up eight hits. He tallied four strikeouts with no walks in seven innings while throwing 92 pitches. Tyler Wells and Bryan Baker each followed with a scoreless inning to keep the score tied going into the ninth.

Tampa Bay managed only one run against Astros pitching through the first eight innings. Opener Miguel Ullola threw a perfect first, and Bryan King followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Ethan Pecko then pitched 5 2/3 innings for Houston, allowing a solo home run to Victor Mesa Jr. in the fifth.

Caminero, 23, has hit 40 home runs for the second consecutive season. Last year, he hit 45 homers with 110 RBI. With 15 games remaining in the regular season, he could equal or surpass those totals. The two-time All-Star is slashing .279/.365/.534 in his fourth MLB season.