CLEVELAND — Saturday was José Ramírez jersey giveaway day at Progressive Field, and the ballpark was clad in red with fans rocking his name on their back and shoulders.
Perhaps predictably, Ramírez put on a show on his big day. He went 2-for-3 in the Guardians’ 5-4 win over the Twins, hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth inning and sparking Cleveland’s go-ahead rally three innings later.
Ramírez led off the eighth with a single off Pierson Ohl, eventually coming around to score the go-ahead run on an RBI double from Bo Naylor. Ramírez added a walk in the first inning.
With the win, the Guardians (56-54) are now two games over .500 for the first time since the morning of June 26, when they were 40-38.
“Very happy to see all the fans [in my jersey],” Ramírez told Guardians TV’s Andre Knott in an on-field interview postgame, through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “But I get the love from them every day, not only today.”
True, though this isn’t the first time Ramírez has enjoyed a big performance when the Guardians have given out a promotional item in his likeness. On May 18 last season, Cleveland hosted a Ramírez bobblehead giveaway promotion. He went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and an RBI double in an 11-4 win over Minnesota.
Clevelanders have long expressed their admiration to Ramírez, who’s in the 13th season of his decorated big league career and has continued to find new ways to shine. Friday, the 32-year-old became just the 17th player in MLB history to record 275 home runs and 275 steals in a career.
Saturday, Ramírez once more started fast; he drew a one-out walk off Twins starter Bailey Ober in the first inning, but he was stranded and did not score. The Guardians held a 2-0 lead entering the fourth inning, but that later gave way to a 4-2 deficit after the top of the fifth.
When Ramírez stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the fifth, he worked his magic again. Ober hung a 2-0 slider, and Ramírez crushed it a Statcast-projected 379 feet over the right-field wall for a game-tying two-run blast.
Given that Saturday’s game had a 4:10 p.m. ET first pitch, shadows began creeping over the infield halfway through the game. Ramírez still managed to go deep.
“It’s a little more difficult with the shadows,” Ramírez told Knott. “But every time I go up there, I try to compete and help the team.”
A 4-4 tie stood until the eighth inning, when Ramírez’s leadoff single paved the way for Cleveland’s rally. Once more, Ramírez was right on time when the Guardians needed him.
“You guys ask me [about him] all the time,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “You’re running out of [new] stuff to say. Like we said, the 17th person in the history of the game with 275/275. He knows when we need homers and singles, and there you go.
“He just needs to get on base and make something happen. It never gets old getting to watch him play. I don’t take it for granted one single day that we get to watch this guy play baseball every day.”
Along with Ramírez, the Guardians got strong contributions from Daniel Schneemann on Saturday. Schneemann started in center field and went 3-for-4 while finishing a triple shy of the cycle. His double in the first, which deflected high off the left-field wall and went a projected 388 feet, would have been a homer in 16 other ballparks.
Schneemann entered the game hitting .218 with a .375 slugging percentage, though he had an expected batting average of .240 and an expecting slugging percentage of .439.
“That was special,” Vogt said of Schneemann’s afternoon. “It seemed like he was going to hit a triple in that last at-bat to get the cycle. Schnee has had some really bad luck this year. … He hits the ball hard, and he’s had some really bad luck. He just continues to have great at-bats and play good defense wherever we throw him out there that day.”
The Guardians also got 4 1/3 scoreless innings from relievers Matt Festa, Erik Sabrowski, Nic Enright and Hunter Gaddis — who picked up his first career save — after starter Tanner Bibee allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings.
“You can’t say enough about the job this bullpen’s done,” Vogt said.
