MINNEAPOLIS -- With his first swing of the day on Saturday, José Ramírez made history.
His teammates spent the rest of the afternoon continuing their march toward a different kind of history.
Ramírez hit one of Cleveland’s season-high five homers and Slade Cecconi pitched seven masterful innings as the Guardians beat the Twins 6-0 at Target Field.
The Guardians have won nine in a row and 14 of their last 15 as they continue to put pressure on the first-place Tigers. Detroit’s lead in the AL Central has been whittled from 15 1/2 games in July to just 1 1/2 games. The reeling Tigers blew a lead in the ninth inning and lost 6-5 to the Braves on Saturday. The Guardians also pulled to one game behind Houston and Boston for the third AL Wild Card spot. All three of the Wild Card contenders play on Saturday evening.
As he so often does, Ramírez set the tone for the Guardians with a first-inning solo homer off Twins starter Joe Ryan, his 30th of the season. That made him the first player in franchise history with three 30-30 seasons -- as in, 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases.
He’s also the second switch-hitter and second third baseman in MLB history with three 30-30 seasons, joining former Mets slugger Howard Johnson in both categories. Besides Ramírez and Johnson, only Alfonso Soriano (four times), Bobby Bonds (five) and Barry Bonds (five) have more than two 30-30 seasons.
“I’m very proud and content to be compared to those guys, because those are some of the best players in the game,” Ramírez said via team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “I’m just thanking God for allowing me to be healthy because that’s what allows me to be there. And I know I'm not going to be the only guy who's going to continue to do it going forward.”
It’s already been a historic weekend for Ramírez, who stole his 40th base of the season on Friday night. Coupled with his 41-steal season last year, it made him the fourth player in franchise history with at least two 40-steal seasons, joining Kenny Lofton (six times), Omar Vizquel (twice) and Brett Butler (twice) in that exclusive club.
Also, only Ramírez, Bobby Bonds (four times), Barry Bonds (twice) and Soriano (twice) have multiple 30-homer, 40-steal seasons. And with 31 doubles on the season, Ramírez joins Barry Bonds (three times) and Soriano (four times) as the only players with three 30-30-30 seasons -- as in home runs, doubles and stolen bases.
“It's so cool to watch him play every day,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “You take for granted a lot of the things that he does because we all get to watch them every day, but 30-30 is such a special accomplishment, let alone 30-40 like he's had. And to do it back-to-back years, and in a year where the offense in general hasn't been as hot, but he's continued to just be himself, I couldn't be more happy for him.”
Bo Naylor, who continued his hot hitting with two solo homers, tried to explain what Ramírez’s accomplishments mean to his teammates.
“He's super important to this ballclub and we're super grateful for him,” Naylor said. “And these moments, these experiences, to be able to share with him are very special.”
Cecconi turned in the type of performance that gets people to sit up and take notice quickly. For the second time in his last three starts he went deep into the game while allowing no runs. He mixed his pitches and kept Twins hitters guessing all game, with just three men reaching base off him in seven innings.
“He was awesome,” Naylor said. “He has a pretty big arsenal and we used it all. We mixed really well. … Just continuing to pound the zone and expand the zone with different shapes.”