CLEVELAND – Jonathan Aranda and Alejandro Kirk are childhood friends, and before the post-season started, the Tampa Bay Rays first baseman reached out to the Toronto Blue Jays catcher for some advice.
“I was like, ‘Hey, do you have any tips for me moving forward here in October?’ And his main suggestion was, just have fun, just have fun and be yourself,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera ahead of ALCS Game 5. “That's honestly helped me a lot to kind of slow the game down and enjoy the moment and embrace this challenge of what is October baseball.”
Aranda went 0-for-10 through the first three games of the best-of-seven against the Cleveland Guardians before breaking out with three hits, a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored in Saturday's 7-3 win in Game 4.
He and Kirk “talk every day, we're best friends, we're brothers,” and added that “he’s someone that I have by my side.”
Last year, they both went to the all-star game together, but Aranda’s season was truncated by a fractured left wrist suffered July 31, a factor in the Rays falling out of playoff contention.
Still, when the Blue Jays advanced to the World Series, Aranda flew in to follow Kirk, saying “it was a big thing for me to go see him, for us, to see each other in the World Series.”
“In that moment last year, I kind of visualized myself in the same scenario,” he continued. “So now, fast-forward a year later, I use it as motivation right now. Hopefully I can make those dreams that I had last year a reality and help this team to a World Series berth.”
