J-Ram records 7th (!) 20/20 season as Guards blast off vs. O's

CLEVELAND -- When your name is alongside folks such as Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonds in baseball’s all-time record books, you know you’re in good company. José Ramírez continues to cement himself alongside greatness.

Ramírez reached the 20-homer, 20-stolen base milestone for the seventh time in his career on Monday in the Guardians’ 10-5 win over the Orioles at Progressive Field. The 32-year-old hit a three-run shot in the first inning off Baltimore starter Tomoyuki Sugano.

Ramírez is only the sixth player in history to record seven such seasons, and he’s tied for fourth most all time. He's also just the second player to reach the mark so far this year, alongside the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong. And the way Ramírez is going, it may not be long before he puts himself firmly atop the list, which is currently occupied by the Bonds father-son duo.

Players with the most 20 HR/20 SB seasons, all-time:

1. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds (10 each)
3. Bobby Abreu (9)
4. Carlos Beltrán, Eric Davis, José Ramírez (7)

The Guardians (49-50) have won nine of their past 11 games, since dropping 10 straight from June 26-July 6.

“He's the GOAT. He's the GOAT for a reason,” Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan said of Ramírez. “I feel like that's just another accolade for him to hang on the wall. I'd be lying if I said I even noticed it. He’s probably not even thinking about it either; he's got bigger and better on his mind.

“That just shows how great of a high-caliber player he is.”

Ramírez has appeared in at least 152 games each of the past four seasons, and he’s on his way to doing so again. He reached the 20/20 marker this season in 96 games, and the only three games he missed through Cleveland’s first 99 were injury-related absences.

Ramírez sprained his right wrist on March 29 vs. the Royals, sprained his right ankle on May 2 vs. the Blue Jays and was hit by a pitch on his right forearm June 26 against Toronto. He returned to the lineup after just one day away in each case, a testament to his durability.

“It’s just unbelievable, the consistency,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve talked a lot about Hosey and we’ve run out of adjectives, and we all love watching him play. It's one of the big reasons we love our jobs here, is we get to watch him play.

“But the consistency of 20/20, keeping your body fresh to be able to do it, the longevity that he's done it for, it just is so impressive with how consistent he is.”

Ramírez’s homer on Monday got the Guardians on the board and was one of three that they hit on the night, tying their single-season high. Bo Naylor hit a solo blast in the fifth, and Kyle Manzardo tacked on another in the sixth. Cleveland needed each blast, as it went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base (a new season high).

Vogt pointed out that the Guardians could have scored “a lot more runs” than they did. Of course, the flip side is that they still scored 10 times on 14 hits and eight walks, an output any team will take in a vacuum whenever it can get it. Monday also had multiple encouraging wrinkles.

Naylor’s homer was his first since June 9 vs. the Reds. Manzardo (who also hit a double) recorded his first game with multiple extra-base hits since June 18 at the Giants. Kwan went 2-for-3 with two singles and a season-high three walks -- in his first game post-All-Star break.

Kwan did not play over the weekend vs. the A’s after he received an injection in his ailing right wrist last Wednesday.

“It helped a ton, obviously. I think mentally, it was a nice little break too,” Kwan said of his weekend down. “Obviously, the All-Star Game is a huge privilege and honor, but it's a turbulent couple of days.

“To be able to kind of also reset over this last week, watch them play some really good baseball, it had me itching to come back.”

The offensive outburst backed Tanner Bibee, who allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits over seven innings. Bibee overcame a 24-pitch first inning when he allowed three runs on four hits -- all singles.

Bibee vowed his performance would improve post-break after he had an up-and-down first half. He is off to a solid start through one outing.

“Tanner could have cashed it in,” Vogt said. “There were a couple of times he could have broken tonight, and he didn’t. He kept us in the game, went deep and gave us seven strong.”