ANAHEIM, Calif. — José Ramírez blasted three homers and carried the Guardians to a victory Friday night time. The veteran slugger claimed one other place in Cleveland baseball historical past within the course of.
Ramírez hit a solo homer within the first, a tying two-run shot within the fifth and one other solo shot within the ninth inning of the Guardians’ 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels, ending Cleveland’s three-game skid.
Ramírez’s twenty sixth profession multi-homer recreation moved him even with Albert Belle and Jim Thome for probably the most multi-homer performances within the historical past of a franchise that started play in 1901. It was additionally the second three-homer recreation of Ramírez’s profession, which has been spent completely with Cleveland.
“I respect some of these days,” Ramírez stated by an interpreter. “Typically it’s arduous to hit one, after which once you hit three, you simply thank God for these sort of video games, and most significantly as a result of we gained.”
Ramírez linked twice off Angels starter José Soriano, homering on two low breaking balls that appeared fairly related — each on the way in which in to the plate and on the way in which out of proper area.
He bought his third off a excessive fastball from rookie Caden Dana, including an insurance coverage run that helped the Guardians to outlive the Angels’ two-run rally later within the ninth.
Ramírez additionally hit three homers on June 8, 2023, at dwelling in opposition to Boston. His 259 homers are the second-most in Cleveland historical past, trailing solely Thome’s 337.
Ramírez’s coaches and teammates might solely marvel at one other signature night time from a celebrity who would not at all times get his due.
“Greatest participant on the planet,” Cleveland supervisor Stephen Vogt stated with a smile. “Man, he’s some form of spectacular. What an excellent night time. Actually picked us up on an evening the place we would have liked a whole lot of offense, and our greatest participant got here by the way in which these guys do. They step up. They know after we want that. They only have a knack for locating methods to do this. A 3-homer recreation, these are so uncommon in itself, however to have the ability to witness it and to have him do it the way in which he did was actually spectacular.”
Ramírez did it six days after spraining his proper wrist whereas sliding in Kansas Metropolis, a mishap that compelled him to overlook one recreation and has left him nonetheless lacking a big chunk of pores and skin on his hand.
The Guardians count on such feats from Ramírez, the six-time All-Star who made the All-MLB first staff final season whereas main Cleveland to 92 victories, the AL Central crown and the AL Championship Sequence. He led the Guardians in homers (39), RBIs (118) and stolen bases (41), barely lacking the 40-40 membership.
He hasn’t stolen a base but in 2025, however he is off to a robust begin within the quest for his first 40-homer season.
“You at all times need good outcomes each time you hit,” Ramírez stated. “Typically you hit the primary homer, and then you definitely don’t hit something after that. We bought good outcomes.”
Ramírez’s night wasn’t all good: He botched Luis Rengifo’s two-out grounder to 3rd within the third inning for his third error in three video games. Jo Adell adopted with a two-run single that put the Angels up 4-2.
Vogt stated he is not frightened about Ramírez’s tough defensive stretch, calling it “a blip” for the third baseman who completed second in Gold Glove voting final 12 months. The supervisor additionally knew Ramírez’s subsequent at-bats could be necessary to him after an error.
“You at all times discover with the highest gamers within the league, once they occur to make a mistake like that, they appear to make up for it immediately,” Vogt stated. “It occurs on a regular basis. However we’re going to proceed engaged on protection.”
