CLEVELAND -- One inning after Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was hit by a pitch on his right forearm, Guardians third baseman José Ramírez experienced the same fate in the fourth inning of Thursday afternoon’s series finale between Toronto and Cleveland at Progressive Field.
Both superstars were forced to exit the rubber match of the three-game series -- a 6-0 Blue Jays win -- with right forearm contusions and underwent X-rays, which came back negative.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider and starter Kevin Gausman both said that Ramírez’s hit-by-pitch wasn’t intentional, though Guardians manager Stephen Vogt went out behind home plate between the fourth and fifth innings and had some words for Toronto’s dugout. He was corralled by home-plate umpire Tom Hanahan.
“We knew they were gonna hit Hosey,” Vogt said. “We knew it was coming, which is part of the game. All I said was, ‘Hit him in the hip.’ [I] played this game a long time, been around this game a long time. [If] you're gonna hit somebody on purpose, you hit them in the hip, not the arm.”
With one out in the top of the third inning, Guardians starter Tanner Bibee hit Guerrero with a 95.6 mph sinker. The 2-2 offering got Guerrero on the underside of his right forearm, and he immediately dropped his bat before spending a moment staring at Bibee. He walked to first base with Schneider and members of the Blue Jays’ training staff.
It marked the second straight day that Guerrero had been hit by a Guardians pitcher; Jakob Junis hit him in the back with a 91.7 mph sinker in the eighth inning on Wednesday, during a 4-4 game that Cleveland went on to win, 5-4, in 10 innings.
“I know they’re not trying to throw at Vlad, we’re not trying to throw at Hosey,” Schneider said after the game. “Just kind of one of those things where you’re trying to make a pitch. I thought everyone handled it fine.”
Guerrero stayed in the game initially and ran the bases before being lifted for Davis Schneider heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. It was the second hit-by-pitch of the inning; Bibee also hit Tyler Heineman in the right quad with an 81.8 mph changeup four batters earlier.
“You never want to see that with any player, let alone Vlad,” Schneider said. “So you just want to be as careful as you can, especially since he’s still a little sore from yesterday. No one likes it, but I’m glad that we avoided anything bad.”
After the game, Bibee said he did not intentionally hit Guerrero.
“He's one of the best hitters in the big leagues,” Bibee said. “[I was] trying to throw a sinker in, just like Junis was yesterday. It just ran in. You make $500 million, you're not going to be able to lean over the plate. It just is what it is. I wasn't trying to hit him.”
"You have to pitch guys like that inside," Vogt said. "Every now and then, one's going to get away. We're clearly not trying to hit anybody. We don't do that."
Ramírez’s hit-by-pitch came on Gausman’s first pitch of the bottom of the fourth, on a 95.0 mph four-seam fastball on the inner half of the plate. Ramírez was hit on the right forearm attempting to get out of the way.
Both benches received a warning by the umpire crew after Ramírez’s hit-by-pitch. Ramírez (whose right forearm was wrapped postgame) noted in the clubhouse he didn’t expect to get hit but didn’t think it was intentional.
“I kind of understand why it was handled the way it was because of the two guys involved,” said Gausman, who allowed two hits and one walk over eight scoreless innings. “[The umpires] kind of set the tone of what to expect going forward, but just two guys trying to pitch in to the two best hitters on each team, so these things are going to happen.”
Ramírez promptly stole second base but exited the game after the fourth inning ended. Nolan Jones entered the game in his place, playing right field, and Daniel Schneemann moved from second base to third.
Bibee was asked what the Guardians’ reaction was to Ramírez getting hit.
“They didn't even really try to hide it,” Bibee said. “But it’s OK. It’ll come back. It'll come back to them.”
Both Guerrero and Ramírez are finalists to start the All-Star Game at their respective positions -- which is a tangible example of their impact on their clubs.
Guerrero is hitting .281 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs, while Ramírez is hitting .317 with 13 home runs, 38 RBIs and 21 stolen bases.
“Any time you see a guy leave a game because of a hit-by-pitch, your mind starts to wander,” Gausman said. “I think that ball kind of hit [Guerrero] in the perfect spot.”
It was a frustrating afternoon overall for the Guardians, who recorded four errors and just two hits. Kyle Manzardo made three errors in the third inning, when Bibee threw 34 pitches and allowed three runs (two earned). That was all the damage the right-hander allowed over six innings.
“That was as sloppy of an inning as we’ve played all year, so we didn't help him out,” Vogt said of the third. “Obviously, his command was a little bit off in the third. But take that inning out, [Bibee] had a great outing.”