Junior Caminero's 2nd walk-off homer in 4 games gives the Rays a 2-1 win over the Athletics

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Junior Caminero hit his second game-ending homer in four games, an opposite-field liner leading off the ninth inning that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 2-1 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Caminero hit the third pitch from Elvis Alvarado (5-4) just inside the foul pole in right. It was the AL-leading 41st homer this season for 23-year-old, who hit his first career walk-off homer to beat Houston on Friday.

Bryan Baker (3-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the Rays, who’ve won four in a row and are an MLB-best 35-17 since July 20.

Chandler Simpson, who began the night five points behind leader AL batting leader Yordan Alvarez of Houston, had half of the Rays’ six hits. Continuing his pursuit of a batting crown, Simpson went 3 for 3, raising his average to .308, and scored after reaching on a second-inning double.

The left fielder also made a sliding catch to rob Shea Langeliers in the ninth.

Simpson leads the AL in singles (143), triples (six) and stolen bases (41). He looks to join Maury Wills (1962), Snuffy Stirnweiss (1944), George Sisler (1922) and Ty Cobb (1911 and 1917) as the only players since 1900 to lead a league in all three categories.

The Athletics tied it in the sixth when Henry Bolte came home on a wild pitch by reliever Ty Johnson.

Griffin Jax worked five scoreless innings. He struck out seven, allowing two hits and no walks. After Bolte scored, the Rays’ bullpen retired the final 11 batters.

A’s starter Jack Perkins threw a career-best 6 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.

Tampa Bay right-hander Nick Martinez (14-4, 2.92 ERA) will start Wednesday against Oakland LHP Brady Basso (1-2, 3.86).

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Griffin Jax throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

The Tampa Bay Rays celebrate Junior Caminero's walk-off home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Athletics pitcher Elvis Alvarado walks off the field after giving up a a walk-off home run to Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero during the ninth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero hits a walk-off home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero, center, celebrates his walk-off home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday that the U.S. has fielded “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”

Meink did not detail what the weapons were, how they work or if they were targeting other objects in space or on Earth. The U.S. had warned two years ago that Russia was developing a new space-based, anti-satellite weapon, though the White House said the danger wasn’t imminent at the time.

But reports of the anti-satellite weapon reflected longstanding worries about space threats from Russia and China, given that much U.S. infrastructure is dependent on satellite communications. The U.S. has also previously demonstrated its own abilities to shoot down satellites from Earth.

In his remarks to the Air and Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Meink also said the Air Force was adding more autonomous systems to its capabilities and predicted the service would look “radically different” by 2032. For example, he foresaw one-way attack drones replacing artillery as the “primary killer.”

“We are increasing readiness against existing threats," he said.

The revelation comes as the Trump administration puts a growing focus on space.

In 2019, during his first term, Trump created the Space Force as a separate military branch. In his second term, he has announced the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, which includes plans to put U.S. weapons in space.

Trump said last year that he expected the system would be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in January 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles “even if they are launched from space.”

Trump also has directed the Pentagon to pursue the space-based interceptors, in an executive order during the first week of his presidency.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years.

The Biden administration announced in 2024 that Russia was developing a space-based nuclear weapon that could loiter in space for long durations, then release a burst that would take out satellites around it.

That kicked off a renewed debate on the idea of weapons in space at the United Nations.

In April 2024, Russia vetoed a joint U.S.-Japanese resolution that would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia.

The treaty also declared that outer space was a global commons that could be used for only peaceful purposes.

The Russian delegation called the resolution hypocritical and a double standard and instead proposed a rival resolution to ban all weapons in space “for all time.” It ultimately failed.

Russia had argued that the United States and its allies opposed a ban on all weapons in outer space because they planned to deploy weapons there.

FILE - Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink speaks during the United States Air Force Academy Graduation Ceremony at Falcon Stadium, Thursday, May 28, 2026, at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool, File)