Incredible DP sets table for Arozarena's heroics

ST. PETERSBURG -- With the game tied, the bases full of Twins and one out in the ninth inning Wednesday night, the Rays found themselves in need of a big-time play and a big-moment player.

Isaac Paredes and Taylor Walls made the perfect play. Then Randy Arozarena, as usual, came through when it mattered most.

Paredes and Walls turned an incredible around-the-horn double play to keep the score even and set up Arozarena’s first career walk-off homer against flame-throwing closer Jhoan Duran in the Rays’ 2-1 win over the Twins at Tropicana Field.

“That's one of the best double plays you're ever going to see, especially if you take into account the situation. Those guys bailed me out,” reliever Jason Adam said. “From top to bottom, just an unbelievable double play. I needed that, the team needed that, and then Randy capitalized.”

For eight innings, the Rays cruised. Their patchwork bullpen game yielded nothing but zeros, and Minnesota didn’t even advance a runner to third base until the ninth. All that time, it looked like Paredes’ second-inning homer off Twins starter Pablo López would be enough to secure their fifth straight win.

Then, all of a sudden, it seemed it wouldn’t be.

Adam hit a batter, walked another and allowed pinch-runner Michael A. Taylor to steal third before allowing the tying single to Royce Lewis. Then Adam plunked Willi Castro with another two-strike pitch, loading the bases with one out and the game hanging in the balance.

Trying to get a ball hit on the ground, preferably one that would allow the infield to turn two, Adam fired a first-pitch changeup to No. 9-hitting catcher Ryan Jeffers. And Jeffers smoked it into the ground with an exit velocity of 102.4 mph. If it had gotten down the line and into the left-field corner, the Twins would have scored two runs and possibly cleared the bases.

“I'm thinking right away, 'Please be at him, and please turn it,’” Adam said. “And they did.”

Indeed, Paredes was there. The third baseman lunged to his right and made a backhanded stop before quickly throwing the ball -- from one knee -- to Walls at second base.

“I knew it was hit hard enough for me to at least turn it,” Paredes said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “As long as I got it to Wallsy and his foot was on the base, that's all I was trying to do.”

Walls, meanwhile, saw the play unfolding before it even started.

Knowing that Adam was throwing a changeup, he predicted Jeffers would try to hit it in the air, making a ground ball to his side of the bag unlikely and allowing him to quickly move in that direction. He also anticipated Paredes’ throw would be to his right, forcing him to reach across his body, which meant he had to keep his right hand close enough to his glove for a quick transfer.

That’s exactly how it played out.

“He's one of the best infielders in the league,” Paredes said through Navarro, “and I knew I had confidence in him.”

Walls kept his left foot on the bag, snagged the ball in his glove then completed a remarkably smooth transfer and a strong throw, all in one motion, directly into first baseman Luke Raley’s outstretched glove.

“I knew I had time with Jeffers running down the line, so I was just trying to catch the ball,” Walls said. “I really didn't even pick Rales up. I was just letting it go, and hopefully it hit the right spot.”

“Wallsy, I don't know if there's another guy that can do what he did on that turn, to be falling one way and get enough on the throw,” added Rays manager Kevin Cash. “Tremendous play on all fronts.”

The Rays had the right hitter due to lead off the ninth, too, even though Arozarena wasn’t expecting there to even be a bottom of the ninth considering how well the Rays had pitched before that. He made sure it lasted only two pitches.

Arozarena said he was geared up to hit a 105 mph fastball from Duran, but he nonetheless swatted a 98.3 mph splitter out to right-center field for his 12th home run of the season and second career walk-off hit.

“Luckily, I was able to connect on that pitch,” Arozarena said through Navarro, “even though I wasn't really looking for that exact pitch.”

Arozarena walked out of the batter’s box, looked into the Rays dugout, tossed his bat into the air and trotted around the bases to find his teammates at the plate, with a few already celebrating with his signature pose.

“Randy is a great player. We all know that. It's no secret. And he lives for the big moment,” Adam said. “So, glad I could give him a chance to have a big moment.”