Tampa Bay Rays slugger Randy Arozarena has always had a flair for the dramatic, as he’s shown with his other-worldly postseason stats.
He likes dramatic moments in the regular season, too, as he showed Friday night against the New York Yankees.
Arozarena homered in his first at-bat of the game, driving the ball to right center into a special fan section the Rays just dedicated earlier in the day.
The special section is known as “Randy Land,” in honor of you know who. Wait, there’s more: Fans sitting in Randy Land get a voucher for free beer when Arozarena homers on Friday nights.
Randy Arozarena comes through for fans in the debut night of "Randy Land" at Tropicana Field!
Fans seated in the Randy Land section get a voucher for a free beer when Arozarena homers on Friday nights. ⚾️💣🍺pic.twitter.com/iuDtv5dt1D
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) May 5, 2023
The moment seemed almost scripted by the Rays marketing department. Even Rays broadcasters Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson pointed that out.
“Is he for real? Is he for real?” Staats said.
“It feels scripted,” Anderson said. “I mean it really feels scripted. Take your time to come out to Randy Land … and then in his first at-bat … Dewayne, I believe that means free cerveza all around.”
“Well let’s go,” Staats joked. “That’s truly unbelievable.”
The Rays star had foreshadowed that moment when talking to reporters Thursday.
“I’m hoping to hit a home run so that everybody drinks happily,” he said (via MLB.com).
Arozarena doesn’t need a special section or free beer promotion as an excuse to hammer the ball. The former AL Rookie of the Year is off to a scorching start. He now has nine home runs on the season, with an OPS above 1.000.