Before Jonathan Arauz woke up the Boston Red Sox' offense, he needed to wake up.
The 23-year-old infielder was with Triple-A Worcester on Friday when the Red Sox placed Kike Hernandez and Christian Arroyo on the COVID-related injured list. Boston needed reinforcements fast, so it called up Arauz and fellow minor leaguer Yairo Munoz, who were in Buffalo playing the Triple-A Bisons.
The Red Sox gave Arauz a call around 1 p.m. ahead of their 7 p.m. game in Cleveland -- and literally caught him napping.
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"I was actually sleeping in the hotel when they called," Arauz told reporters Friday night through interpreter Rey Fuentes. “They called at around (1 p.m.) just to let me know I had to get up in a hurry and get luggage real quick and get to the stadium as fast as possible, get on that bus to get over here."
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The urgency was well-placed: The 200-mile bus ride from Buffalo to Cleveland would take at least three hours. Arauz and Munoz arrived at Progressive Field between 5 and 5:30 p.m., per manager Alex Cora, with Arauz batting ninth and playing second base.
Fast forward to the eighth inning, when Arauz smacked a go-ahead three-run home run off Indians reliever James Karinchak (after two failed bunt attempts) to jump-start a Boston offense that entered the inning with one hit.
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"I was actually upset at myself," Arauz said. "During the first couple pitches, I didn’t get the bunt down. I just took some time to myself, kind of kept my head up and said, ‘All right, if I didn’t get bunt down, I have to move them over somehow. Move the runners. Get good contact. I need to do something to make up for missing the bunt.’
"And thank God I was able to put a good swing on that pitch and hit the ball out."
The home run -- Arauz' first in 17 games with the Red Sox this season -- lifted Boston to a 4-3 win. With Hernandez expected to miss some time due to COVID, Arauz might get more opportunities in Cleveland -- and skip that 200-mile bus ride back to Buffalo.