TORONTO -- Randy Arozarena ran wild on the bases Tuesday afternoon, helping the Rays flip the American League Wild Card standings midway through a busy day of baseball at Rogers Centre.

Arozarena wound up hitless on the afternoon, but his hustle -- and daring creativity -- on the basepaths helped create two runs for Tampa Bay. That was more than enough support for starter Jeffrey Springs, who picked up the staff by pitching six scoreless innings in the Rays’ 4-2 win over the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the rivals’ day-night doubleheader.

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The victory reversed the Rays' spot in the standings with the Blue Jays ahead of the nightcap, and the Mariners set to play late Tuesday night. Tampa Bay (79-61) was tied with Seattle (79-61) for the top AL Wild Card spot -- the Rays hold that tiebreaker advantage -- with Toronto (79-62) just a half-game back.
 
“He's a super-talented player that can do so many things to impact you,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Arozarena. “And we saw him do it on the bases.”

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With runners on the corners and one out in the first inning, Arozarena slapped a potential double-play grounder to slick-fielding third baseman Matt Chapman. The Jays easily forced out Wander Franco at second base as Yandy Díaz dashed home, but they could not turn two. Arozarena flew down the line, reaching an elite sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second (well above his season average of 28.7), and beat second baseman Santiago Espinal’s throw to first.

“When you hit a ball and you know it's not going to be a hit, the only thing you can do there is just run hard,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “Luckily, I was able to get that RBI to help the team score early.”

The Rays rallied again in the third against Blue Jays bulk-inning pitcher Mitch White, and Arozarena was right in the middle of the action again.

Díaz singled to center, the second of his three hits on the day, and moved to second on Franco’s base hit. Jonathan Aranda loaded the bases with an infield single, although he had been ruled out before a replay review overturned the call. Up came Arozarena, who drove in Díaz with a ground ball to second base and reached first before Toronto could turn a double play.

David Peralta’s sacrifice fly scored Franco, made it a 3-0 game and brought up Manuel Margot for the game’s most bizarre sequence. It was perfectly Arozarena, whose fearless (albeit occasionally reckless) baserunning once prompted Cash to ponder if he’d taken an “invisible pill.”

Arozarena, one stolen base away from 30 on the year, seemed determined to swipe second. Twice, it seemed he had. But twice, he was sent back to first due to inadvertent batter’s interference by Margot, whose backswing hit catcher Danny Jansen in the back as he sprang to his feet.

When Margot bounced a single off Chapman’s glove and through the left side of the infield, Arozarena rounded second, appeared to slow down heading into third, then kicked it into another gear and sprinted home. Arozarena anticipated that Blue Jays left fielder Teoscar Hernández would throw the ball to second base but didn’t actually check to see if he did.

Hernández held on to the ball, but Arozarena did not hold up at third.

“I decided to just keep on going,” Arozarena said through Navarro.

“Sometimes he's his own third-base coach and manager,” Cash said, “and he's invisible.”

It worked for him this time. Hernández made a late, rushed and off-line throw to the plate, so Arozarena safely scored from first base on a single.

“It's surprising -- but then, it's not surprising,” Springs said. “He plays so hard, so wide open, and he's got a good baseball IQ, so he picks and chooses his moments. But it was pretty cool. That kind of gets the guys fired up, for sure.”

The game wound up being a little closer than the Rays might have liked, as hot-hitting Bo Bichette came to the plate as the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning. But Pete Fairbanks won an 11-pitch showdown against Bichette to complete a four-out save, his seventh of the season, and stop the Rays’ losing streak at three games.
 
“That was a pretty epic battle,” Cash said. “Pete's had an incredible run. Probably didn't want it to come down to that in our dugout, but I'm glad that we got the ground ball.”