José Ramírez hit his first home run of July and drove in two runs to help the Cleveland Guardians break their three-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Ramírez’s home run in the fifth inning off Joey Wentz (0-2) gave the AL Central-leading Guardians their third win in the last ten games. He also contributed an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Cleveland’s record of 60-40 after 100 games is their best since the 1999 season when they also had a 60-40 start. They are the only American League team this year to avoid losing four games in a row.
Ramírez’s homer, his first since June 29, put Cleveland ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning. He battled through a 1-2 count against Wentz before hitting a fastball over the left-field wall, ending a stretch of 74 at-bats without a home run.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt commented on Ramírez’s performance, noting the relief after the long drought: “I’m sure the pressure valve got released for him.
It might’ve been the longest stretch of his life without hitting a home run there. This is one of the elite players in the league. He’s going to go through those times.”
In addition to Ramírez’s contributions, Steven Kwan and rookie Jhonkensy Noel each hit solo home runs for Cleveland. The team, which had struggled offensively in recent weeks, had scored two or fewer runs in six of their last eight games leading up to this win.
Steven Kwan, who leads the majors with a .347 batting average, emphasized the team effort in the victory: “We played Guardians baseball with a little bit of pop, had some good pitching. We had some situational hitting, some homers too. It felt like it was a complete team win. All pistons were firing on that one. That’s a good way to get momentum rolling.”
