CINCINNATI -- For over a decade, Terry Francona had a front-row seat to watch José Ramírez’s offensive greatness in Cleveland. So the former Guardians manager knew what he would be up against on Friday at Great American Ball Park.
Friday marked Francona’s first time facing the Guardians since the Reds named him manager on Oct. 7 last year. Before the game, Francona (Cleveland’s manager from 2013-23) was asked about the possibility of facing Ramírez in the late innings, and what he would do with him.
"Wave at him,” Francona joked. “I hope we're not facing him late in the game. I’ve been thinking about that since about March. Hope he pulls it foul.”
Francona was on to something. Ramírez stepped up in the eighth inning of Friday’s Ohio Cup series opener and crushed a solo home run to right field. It cut the Guardians’ deficit to one, in their eventual 5-4 loss to the Reds.
Ramírez’s homer extended his hitting streak to 10 games, and marked the third straight game he’s gone deep. It’s the ninth time in his career Ramírez has hit a homer in three straight games. He most recently did so between July 29 and Aug. 1 last season.
His homer also had a 6.4-second hang time, which is tied for the second-longest hang time he's recorded on one since Statcast tracking began in 2015. “Unbelievably, when he first hit it, I’m like, ‘Maybe the wind’s blowing enough,’” Francona said. “After he hit it, well, it’s blowing hard enough where it didn’t go into the river.”
During his hitting streak, Ramírez is slashing .389/.488/.806 with three doubles, four homers, eight RBIs, six walks and four strikeouts. He’s raised his season slash line from .265/.318/.436 to .294/.360/.523 over that stretch.
The Guardians are not surprised that Ramírez has gone on a heater.
“I never worry about Hosey. He’s always going to get it going,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Even when he’s not hitting all over the place, he’s getting on base and making things happen. You just sit back and watch and enjoy the show.”
“It’s great. Everybody knows José,” first baseman Carlos Santana said. “Me and him, we talk about hitting all the time. He’s one of the best hitters in the league. Right now, he got hot. … He’s a great player. He plays hard every day.”
Those would seem to be productive conversations between Cleveland’s corner infielders. Santana has also been locked in at the plate. He extended his on-base streak to 18 games on Friday with a two-run single off of Reds starter Brady Singer in the fourth inning. Only St Louis’ Willson Contreras (27 games) has a longer active streak.
Dating back to the first game of his streak (April 26 against the Red Sox), Santana is slashing .250/.414/.385 with two homers, 15 RBIs and 14 walks with 12 strikeouts.
“I try to help the team the most I can,” Santana said. “Runner on third and second, and I got a hit. This is what I have to do. The team needs me. I try to do my best when I have those situations.”
Santana’s two-run single got the Guardians on the board, after they fell into an early 5-0 hole. Cincinnati scored four times in the second inning off starter Tanner Bibee, including three times on a homer by former Cleveland outfielder Will Benson.
Bibee allowed a solo homer to Austin Hays to lead off the third and then a double to Gavin Lux. He retired eight of the next nine Reds hitters he faced and kept Cincinnati off the board the rest of the way, while ultimately allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits in six innings.
“I thought the first couple of innings, Tanner didn’t really have his good stuff,” Vogt said. “It wasn’t sharp and they got to him. But he really locked it in after that and gave us three huge innings after the first three.
“That’s who Tanner is. He came out of the gates not sharp and wasn’t at his best, but then turned it around and got some huge outs for us down the stretch and kept us in the game.”