Arozarena Gets 6 RBIs as Rays Top Blue Jays in 10-6 Slugfest
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There have been many times in the past few years when Randy Arozarena has carried the Tampa Bay Rays on his back. He's doing it again now, and Friday might have been his best regular-season moment yet.
The flashy left fielder drove in a career-high six RBIs on Friday night and was right in the middle of every rally the Rays had — and they needed a bunch of them. The Rays won 10-6 over American League East rival Toronto, thanks to a three-run homer by Arozarena and a four-run rally in the eighth inning after they had let two leads slip away.
It was win No. 84 for the Rays, and it might have been the most important because it had extra value. The Rays are now 10-7 against the Blue Jays this season, and the season series is now locked up with two games to go. It gives Tampa Bay the tie-breaker in the wild-card race and put the Rays back into the No. 4 after the win, which is huge because it means the Rays would host the best-of-three wild-card round on Oct. 7-9.
Seattle lost and is now 1.5 games behind the Rays in the wild-card chase. Baltimore won again, and is now three games behind the Mariners. The Rays, by the way, also own the tie-breakers against Seattle and Baltimore.
“That was an exciting game,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We know we’re playing a very good team, and no lead is good enough with that lineup. We just kind of went back and forth, and certainly this game was fitting of two good teams really competing.”
It was the third straight game where the Rays have scored 10 or more runs against the Blue Jays, which has happened only once before in franchise history. That was against Baltimore from Aug 29-31, 2008, during Tampa Bay's first-ever playoff chase. The Rays, who scored only two runs in the sweep by Houston earlier in the week, have had 23 hits the past two nights, including nine for extra bases.
Arozarena's three-run homer in the fifth gave him a second straight 20-homer, 20-steal season joining BJ Upton as the only Rays player to ever do that. He currently has 20 himers and 32 steals. He's been on fire since Aug. 1, driving in 40 runs, the best in the majors.
“It was definitely a big game, big game for both (teams),” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “We’re both trying to get the top spot of the wild card. They got the lead, then we got the lead. ... We were able to take the advantage there late in the game.”
There was a ton of back and forth early in the game. The Rays got on the board early for the second straight night, scoring two runs in the first off of Toronto starter Mitch White. Harold Ramirez walked and Wander Franco doubled with one out, and Ramirez scored on a groundout from Arozarena. Manuel Margot then laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line, and the Jays' Matt Chapman had no play to make it 2-0.
All you need is faith, trust, and a Margot RBI✨ pic.twitter.com/nRqthq7hL5
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 23, 2022
They made it 3-0 in the fourth on doubles by Isaac Paredes and Christian Bethancourt. Rays starters Jeffrey Springs had been cruising — he allowed just two hits in the first four scoreless innings, but things got away from him a bit in the fifth, and the Blue Jays scored four runs. He gave up doubles to Teoscar Hernandez and Raimel Tapia, and then RBI singles to Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the Blue Jays took a 4-3 lead.
Arozarena's homer in the fifth put the Rays back ahead. It was a low line drive down the right field line that Arozarena said was ''about 50-50'' to get out of the park.
Randy's 20th of the year puts us back on top ‼️ pic.twitter.com/CAlYPXEGLJ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 24, 2022
Toronto, though, came right back in the sixth inning. Springs left after five — he had thrown 83 pitches — and Colin Poche came in. He immediately allowed a walk and a single to Tapia, so Cash quickly hooked him and brought in standout reliever Jason Adam early in the game. He gave up a single to Danny Jansen and George Springer hit a sacrifice fly, tying the game at 6-6.
It seemed odd that Adam allowed the inherited runners to score. He had a streak of 27 straight inherited runners stranded prior to Friday.
Cash got two great innings of relief from Javy Guerra and then he pushed all the right buttons in the eighth inning. He pinch-hit Ji-Man Choi, who coaxed a walk off reliever Yimi Garcia. Taylor Walls pinch-ran and got to third on rookie Miles Mastrobuoni's second hit of the game in his first career start.
Cash then pinch-hit David Peralta, and the veteran made just enough contact to get a ball out to shallow right and Walls scored when the throw went up the third-base line. Jays shortstop Bo Bichette then booted an easy ground ball to make it 8-6 and then Franco and Arozarena got RBI hits to blow the game open.
Pete Fairbanks came on to close out the game in the ninth, allowing just one walk, and the Rays had their win and a whole lot more
“You obviously feel for the guys when that happens,” Fairbanks said of the Rays losing two leads early. “But to see them put together those at-bats in the eighth and really buckle down and lock it in when we needed it the most, shouts to the offense. There have been games where we’ve picked them up, and (Friday) was one where they were able to come and pick us up. I thought it was great to see.
The Rays have two more games to close out the home portion of their schedule. Drew Rasmussen will take on Alex Manoah on Saturday, and Shane McClanahan will pitch Sunday. Then the Rays close out the season on a three-leg road trip to Cleveland, Houston and Boston.
“It’s kind of in our hands, and whatever we do with that is whatever we do with it,” Fairbanks said. “Our job is to come in and have that same drive and same competitive fire (Saturday) and to bring it.''
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.