Arozarena's 'invisible pill' wears off on wild dash home

April 24th, 2022

It's been a long time since Randy Arozarena did something crazy on the basepaths -- about a week -- so it was high time for the mercurial Rays slugger to let loose in Sunday's 5-2 win over the Red Sox.

With Tampa Bay leading, 3-2, in the sixth inning, Red Sox hurler Jake Diekman threw a wild pitch, allowing Kevin Kiermaier to scamper home from third. While Diekman lamented that outcome behind home plate, Arozarena -- who had been on second base -- bolted for home behind his back. (Even the cameraman shooting the game caught him running in the background.)

"I think Randy, he took an invisible pill this morning or something,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said after the game.

Unfortunately it wore off by the time Diekman turned around and realized what was happening, just in time to dive back and make the tag to end the inning. This wasn't an uncommon outcome; Arozarena leads the Majors with four outs on the basepaths, and Tampa Bay has been nabbed an MLB-high 11 as a team. But regardless of the result, when Arozarena's on the move, it's obviously advisable not to touch that dial.

"Randy, he’s in a league of his own," Kiermaier said. "He is so aggressive, and if anyone’s going to do something, it’s going to be Randy."