CLEVELAND — Andres Gimenez was thrown out trying to steal second base in the eighth inning, and the Minnesota Twins were able to momentarily relax with the bases clear.
That's the moment David Fry knew the Twins were walking into a bear trap with Jose Ramirez standing in the batter's box.
The Guardians and division rival Twins entered the eighth inning of Friday night's game tied 2-2 . Gimenez reached base and represented the potential go-ahead run. He appeared to have stolen second base, as he was originally called safe after a close play, but an official review overturned the call, clearing the bases. With Ramirez at the plate, it lowered the leverage of the entire situation.
But that's precisely why Fry thought the Twins reliever Jhoan Duran might be playing into Ramirez's hands.
"I looked at Albie [bench coach Craig Albernaz] actually because they had just overturned the steal call and called [Gimenez] out and I said, 'I really like Minnesota exhaling,' like, OK, nobody's on base now [leading] into a Josey homer," said Fry, who hit a go-ahead two-run home run earlier in the game. "And then two pitches later he did it. I mean, whenever he's up, we kind of expect it at this point."
As soon as the ball left Ramirez's bat, he turned to the Guardians dugout and began yelling to them. The dugout's reaction, collectively, was some variation of, "Of course it was Jose."
"I'm running out of adjectives to describe him," said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt . "You just kind of smile and laugh sometimes, like, 'Are you kidding me?' … He just puts us on his shoulders."
That home run, the first allowed by Duran this season, led to a 3-2 Guardians win and was Ramirez's 226th of his career. It moved him into a tie with Earl Averill for fourth place on the franchise's all-time home run list.
Only three sluggers from the 1990s Cleveland teams remain ahead of him: Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle and Jim Thome. Based on projections and some recent history, Ramirez, if keeps up his current pace, is projected to pass both Ramirez and Bell by the end of this season .
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez beats Minnesota Twins with home run
