Bird? Plane? No, it's ... Randy Arozarena!

April 24th, 2021

And you thought came out of nowhere last October? Well, check out the catch he made Friday night in the fifth inning of the Rays' 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field.

With two outs and nobody on, Blue Jays designated hitter Rowdy Tellez hit a high fly ball to center field off Tyler Glasnow. Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier came in for the ball but lost track of it inside the domed ballpark, signaling with his hands up that he wasn’t sure where to make the play. That’s when Arozarena knew it was his ball to catch.

“Naturally as an outfielder, wherever the ball is hit, the other outfielders tend to go in to back up,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “So out of reaction, I go into that direction. But once I saw him make the movement that he couldn't see the ball, and I did, that's when I reacted accordingly.”

Shortstop Willy Adames ventured into the outfield and pointed to a spot behind Kiermaier when, all of a sudden, Arozarena came diving onto the scene to make the incredible and unlikely grab.

It goes down in the scorebook as a flyout to left field when, of course, it was anything but that.

“That was impressive. He kind of came out of nowhere,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Very, very rarely KK loses a ball. He plays center field definitely in this building better than anybody, maybe in the game at any field. But he lost it, and Randy was there to cover him.”

Arozarena needed to cover 115 feet to make the play, according to Statcast, ranging all the way from left field to center. And he had to lay out for it, going full extension then sliding across the Tropicana Field turf with the ball in his glove.

“That was awesome,” Glasnow said. “I saw KK kind of struggle for it. I know it's hard to see with the roof. It's a white roof; I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but it's always been really tough here. So I saw KK throw his hands up, and I'm just glad Arozarena was there to do it. And obviously him being a freak athlete, that was an amazing play.”

It was Arozarena’s second defensive gem of the season, as he made another diving catch on April 5 at Fenway Park. He immediately came through again for the Rays -- this time in a more familiar way, at least for those who watched him torment pitchers last September and October.

Batting with runners on first and second and nobody out in the bottom of the fifth, Arozarena unloaded on a sinker from Blue Jays starter Steven Matz and pummeled it out to left-center field.

Arozarena hasn’t seen as many fastballs in the strike zone this season, a trend that began during his record-setting postseason run, and he punished the one Matz gave him.

The three-run blast, Arozarena’s third home run of the season -- which pulled the Rays to within 4-3 at the time -- came off his bat at 109.5 mph and traveled a projected 445 feet, according to Statcast. It was the longest home run of Arozarena’s career and the longest at Tropicana Field since Mike Zunino hit one 455 feet on July 5, 2019.

“I had the adrenaline and the rush going from the play,” Arozarena said. “And I just went up there, still trying to make solid contact and play the game like I normally play, and that's what happened.

"My approach up there is to go up and just make hard contact, whether it's a breaking pitch or whether it's a fastball. As you know, I go up there and I just swing as hard as I can and try to hit it and just make solid contact regardless of what pitch it may be.”