It’s October, and that means it’s time once again for the Randy Arozarena show. Thursday night the Tampa Bay Rays opened their ALDS matchup with the rival Boston Red Sox with a 5-0 win at Tropicana Park (GameTracker), and Arozarena was a one-man highlight reel.
In the first inning, Arozarena drew a walk and managed to score all the way from first base on a Wander Franco single that Enrique Hernández turned into a double with a bobble. Arozarena never let up and kept truckin’ on home. He scored with ease.
Four innings later Arozarena went deep, socking a near 400-foot homer to left field to stretch Tampa’s lead to 4-0. He now has 11 career postseason homers in 26 games, including only 20 games with the Rays. All 11 home runs have come in his last 19 postseason games, the second most homers in a 19-game span in history (Babe Ruth hit 12 in 19 games from 1923-32).
Arozarena saved his best for last, executing a straight steal of home in the seventh inning. Lefty Josh Taylor was of course set up with his back to third base, and third baseman Rafael Devers was far enough away from the bag that Arozarena could take a huge lead, and sprint home. The play at the plate wasn’t particularly close.
“The steal of home, that was one of the cooler things I’ve ever seen on a baseball field,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters after the game. “He’s a special player. He certainly gets up for the moment.”
Handsome Randy is the first player in history to hit a home run and steal home in a postseason game. He’s also the first player to steal home in a postseason game since Javier Báez in Game 1 of the 2016 NLCS. Baez’s team went on to win the World Series that year. Arozarena & Co. will try to follow suit in 2021.
A year ago Arozarena, the likely AL Rookie of the Year, set new single-postseason records for hits (29), total bases (64), and home runs (10). The extra Wild Card round no doubt helped, but you still have to perform, and no one has performed better than Arozarena the last two postseasons.
