José Ramírez hits grand slam on the 10th pitch of the inning

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CLEVELAND — There is rarely concern about the Dominican’s bat Jose Ramirez when it makes a little less noise than usual during a slow start, but just in case some questions were starting to arise, he took it upon himself to erase them all in dramatic fashion on Thursday.

With the bases loaded in the second inning, Ramirez won a 10-pitch battle against Boston starter Chase Anderson by hitting a 384-foot grand slam that proved to be the difference in the Guardians win 6-4 over the Red Sox at Progressive Field.

“First of all, Austin Hedges said he would hit one [un grand slam]”Guardians starter Triston McKenzie said with a laugh. “I think you always hope that [Ramírez] He does great things, but when it really happens, you are very happy for him and for the team.”

Ultimately, Ramirez was rewarded after making several quality contacts against the Red Sox that had not paid off. This was the seventh meeting between the two teams this year. In the first six, he hit 12 hard hits (at least 95 mph) but went 3 for 25 (.217) overall with one home run. After a single in the first inning on Thursday, Ramirez took a 3-0 lead in his second appearance at the plate. He saw a cut fastball go by and fanned another blank to get to 3-2. Then, he fouled out four cutters in a row. The fifth cutter? The ball bounced off Ramírez’s bat at 107.8 mph for the sixth grand slam of his career.

“Someone like José is obviously learning with every pitch,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt explained. “He kept using the cutter, he kept using the cutter and then he saw one in his power zone and he didn’t waste it. So incredible at-bat by him.”

Ramirez is now tied for sixth on Cleveland’s grand slam chart. Fellow Dominican Manny Ramírez leads with 13, Travis Hafner has 12 and Al Rosen hit nine, Albert Belle and Jim Thome have seven each, while Ramírez is tied with Andre Thornton and Rocky Colavito with six. The drive also marked Ramirez’s 1,353rd hit, tying him with Thome for 12th all-time hits for Cleveland. Ramírez singled in the seventh to take sole possession of twelfth place.

A grand slam is always impressive, but what about a home run after seeing at least 10 pitches? According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Thursday’s home run was Ramirez’s fourth in an appearance of 10 or more pitches. Only one other Cleveland player has more than one homer in such appearances since pitch counts began to be tracked (since 1988): Casey Blake with two.

Overall in MLB, only three players have more than four homers in plate appearances of at least 10 pitches since 1988: Todd Helton (eight), Paul Konerko (seven) and Paul Goldschmidt (six).

“I feel like the only advantage you can get [en un turno de bateo largo] is that you get to see the pitch that the pitcher fully trusts in,” Ramírez explained. “You can concentrate on trying to answer [contra] that launch.”

That swing was the moment of the game. It was the reason the Guardians were able to avoid losing just their second series of the campaign. But that wasn’t the only moment Ramírez stole the show. After his single in the seventh inning, Ramirez stole second and ended up at third after a bad throw by catcher Reese McGuire. A few pitches later, the ball slipped out of McGuire’s hand as he transferred it from glove to hand, and he rolled far enough for Ramirez to run toward the plate.

“That’s just what he does,” Vogt added. “I mean, he makes things happen… It seemed like he wasn’t going to leave.” [al home] but then he saw the pitcher [cerca del montículo] and he realized that he could get there. So I mean it’s just a matter of being alert. “He’s aggressive, he’s smart, he’s everything you could want in a baseball player.”

This is not something new for the Guardians. Although Vogt is in his first season with the club, he knew all this about Ramirez when he was his opponent. No matter what he’s doing offensively, the impact of him running the bases never suffers. And when his bat is quiet, no one in the organization panics. Once again, he has proven that it is only a matter of time before the bat wakes up.

“Look, I’ve been in this game for a long time and I know that when you’re hitting the ball well, sooner or later the results will come,” Ramírez recalled. “I know the season is long and good things are going to happen if you keep doing the right things.”