Jose Ramírez blasts his way to more franchise history

CLEVELAND: Home side Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez on Monday, etched his name into the franchise's history as he played his 34th game with at least four Runs Batted Ins (RBIs).

Ramírez smashed a three-run homer off Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, reviving Cleveland's offence in its 6-4 victory over New York at Progressive Field.

It was part of a huge night at the plate for Ramírez, who went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and rewrote the Cleveland franchise record book.

With that homer, Ramirez is now second in franchise history in extra-base hits with 668. He was tied with Hall of Fame centre fielder Tris Speaker coming into the night and is now only behind Earl Averill (724).

After the match, Ramirez expressed his pleasure before expressing his hope to remain healthy to stretch his career.

“Very happy,” Ramírez said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero.

“Very happy with that and thank you God for keeping me healthy to be able to achieve that. For now, just hoping to stay healthy and see how long I can go.”

With much work yet to be done this year, it's hardly a stretch for Ramírez to establish Cleveland's new career record for extra-base hits in 2025.

Over the 2016 season, his initial full year in the majors, to 2024, he hit an average of 69 extra-base hits annually.

He's struck nine this season – four doubles, five homers – to leave himself 56 short of Averill's record.

The manager Stephen Vogt also praised his ability to perform every year:

“It shows when you're an unbelievably great player who has played a long time,” manager Stephen Vogt said.

“That’s what these accolades show. It's hard to be great, let alone hard to be great consistently, year after year after year.

“And for Hosey, every time you guys tell me, ‘Oh, he tied this,’ it’s like, ‘Of course he did.’ You've run out of ways to describe him, and Hosey always steps up for us.”

Ramírez homered on an 87.2 mph sweeper from Schmidt down and inside, sending it a Statcast-projected 390 feet. The Progressive Field crowd was still buzzing when Kyle Manzardo stepped to the plate afterwards.

He made it back-to-back jacks with a first-pitch solo homer off Schmidt.