Rays’ Kameron Misner becomes first player to hit first big league homer as walk-off on opening day

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Kameron Misner gave the Tampa Bay Rays the perfect housewarming gift: a game-ending home run.

Forced from Tropicana Field by Hurricane Milton, the Rays are playing home games across the bay this season at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees’ spring training headquarters. Leading off the ninth inning in Friday’s opener against Colorado, Misner hit a drive to right through swirling wind that lifted Tampa Bay to a 3-2 victory.

The 27-year-old rookie became the first player in major league history to hit his first big league home run for a walk-off on opening day, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"I was hoping it was going out, but you never know," Misner said.

Misner was supposed to be at Triple-A, optioned to Durham on March 19, but he was recalled Wednesday after Richie Palacios was diagnosed with a broken finger.

Before a sellout crowd of 10,046 that included Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem, Misner entered in the eighth as a defensive replacement after the Rays used a pinch hitter. He homered on a 97.4 mph fastball from Victor Vodnik that leaked over the inside of the plate, a 351-foot drive into the right-field seats of a short porch with the same dimensions as Yankee Stadium.

Christopher Morel and Junior Caminero doused Misner with Powerade tubs after he crossed the plate.

"It's like a Hollywood movie script right there,” said Ryan Pepiot, the Rays’ starting pitcher. "Your first home run is a walk-off home run. You can't get any more electric than that."

Dad Terry, mom Stephanie and sister Brylee were in the stands. While Misner spoke with reporters after the game, clubhouse assistant Jerry Culkin tossed him the ball that had been retrieved.

Misner said he didn’t hit any home runs at all until his junior season at Poplar Bluff High School.

Selected 35th by Miami in the 2019 amateur draft, he signed for a $2,115,000 bonus. He was traded to Tampa Bay in December 2021 for infielder Joey Wendle and made his big league debut Aug. 2 at Houston, when he pinch-ran and hit a game-ending flyout against All-Star closer Josh Hader.

Misner got his first hit in his final at-bat before he was sent back down, on a 100.8 mph pitch from Oakland All-Star closer Mason Miller on Aug. 22.

"Our dugout erupted because we love the guy so much," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "You hear the coaches rave about him from Triple-A. … Pretty easygoing guy. He can dish it and he can take it and it's good for the clubhouse."

Misner grew up on a farm in Missouri with cows and horses and went to high school in Poplar Bluff, about 150 miles from St. Louis. He wore his lucky ostrich skin boots to the ballpark.

"He's a country boy - very country boy who's going to wear his cowboy boots every day, showing up with a cowboy hat on," Pepiot said.

As a kid, Misner was into rodeo, riding steers until fourth or fifth grade.

"My mom kind of put a stop to that. She said: `You got to start playing sports,’" he explained. "My mom saw the first bull and she said: `No.‴