{"id":826819,"date":"2026-10-11T11:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/826819\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T11:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:42:22","slug":"jose-ramirez-has-big-moment-for-guardians-with-home-run-on-pitch-just-above-home-plate-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/826819\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez has big moment for Guardians with home run on pitch just above home plate"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND (AP) \u2014 Jose Ramirez<\/a> followed one of the worst seasons of his 14-year major league career, with a postseason power surge.<\/p>\n

The All-Star third baseman helped propel Cleveland into its third AL Championship Series since 2016 with an improbable two-run homer in the fourth inning of the Guardians<\/a>‘ 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox<\/a> in Game 5 of thei4 AL Division Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the way he performed the last two, you could tell he\u2019s just like, \u2018I got you.\u2019 He put us on his back one more time,\u201d manager Stephen Vogt said.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez batted .235 during the regular season, the second-lowest average of his career, and missed 30 games in June and July after surgery to repair the broken hamate bone in his left hand. <\/p>\n

Even after returning, Ram\u00edrez was still having problems with the hand and sat out some games due to inflammation.<\/p>\n

During the last two weeks of the regular season, Ram\u00edrez’s bat was beginning to show signs of life. He had multi-hit games in five of his last nine and was 12 for 38.<\/p>\n

After going 0 for 6 with three strikeouts the first two games of the series, Ram\u00edrez went 5 for 12 with two homers and seven RBIs in the last three. He had two-run homers in the last two games and made a series of key defensive plays in the two games at Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like we always talk about. He\u2019s one swing away from getting it going and I think every ball he put in play was hard the last three games and that\u2019s just who he is,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cYou don\u2019t ever count him out. You don\u2019t ever worry about him. He\u2019s going to show up when we need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez’s defense wasn’t needed on Saturday night. Guardians pitchers struck out 21 strikeouts, the most in a nine-inning postseason game. He didn’t record a put out on the nine balls the White Sox put in play.<\/p>\n

Even though the home run pitch was below the strike zone, it was just what Ram\u00edrez was looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve faced him a couple of times. So we know he has a really good curveball. I was able to get my legs and get a good contact,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

Players in the Guardians dugout thought Ram\u00edrez would at least have a double, but the ball just got over the wall near the right-field line. His sixth career postseason home run tied Albert Belle for third-most in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez homered on a pitch by Sean Burke<\/a> 0.74 feet above ground, the lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run since tracking started in 2008, according to MLB<\/a> Statcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it came down to one pitch to Ramirez. He\u2019s a really good player. He\u2019s probably going to be in the Hall of Fame some day,” Burke said. \u201cBut it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez admitted his focus may have been heightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese games you want to do your best because it\u2019s do or die. You don\u2019t win, you go home, and this team really wants to do the right things, and for me, that\u2019s the thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez hopes to keep his offense going in the AL Championship Series against Tampa Bay, which opens Monday.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez went 3 for 20 in five games against the Rays<\/a> this season. He has a career .252 average against the Reya with eight home runs and 28 RBIs.<\/p>\n

\u201cJos\u00e9 is Jos\u00e9. We all love him,” Cleveland starter Gavin Williams<\/a> said. “He always has that one moment all the time. We know what he\u2019s going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full MLB coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND (AP) \u2014 Jose Ramirez followed one of the worst seasons of his 14-year major league career, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,49,51,2078,865,19,2328,2304,4,2305,2303,2003],"class_list":["post-826819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-gavin-williams","tag-jose-ramirez","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-sean-burke"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117422099231688639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}