It’s Arozarena’s arena to dazzle
RANDY Arozarena belted his 11th career playoff home run and produced a rare straight steal of home on Thursday as the Tampa Bay Rays launched their post-season with a 5-0 victory over the
Boston Red Sox.
The Rays, who fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in last season’s World Series, grabbed a 1-0 lead over the Red Sox in the best-of-five American League division series.
Arozarena was key. He sprinted to home plate in the seventh inning behind the back of Red Sox relief pitcher Josh Taylor to push the Rays’ lead to five runs. It was the first post-season steal of home since Javier Baez in the 2016 National League Championship Series.
Arozarena’s heroics in the Rays’ 2021 playoff opener were a continuation of his stellar play in the 2020 post-season, when he homered 10 times to power Tampa Bay’s run to the World Series.
Nelson Cruz also homered for the Rays and rookie pitcher Shane McClanahan pitched five strong innings before the bullpen took over and confidently closed it out.