Prior to Tuesday night, the last time Jose Ramirez was in Cleveland's lineup was on Aug. 24. During the four weeks in between, he made a quick recovery from a broken hamate bone. Given that Cleveland is jockeying for a playoff spot, Ramirez's insistence on getting back into the lineup made sense. But it was fair to wonder how much he'd be able to contribute.
We won't know for sure until the regular season concludes on Sunday, but at minimum Ramirez made his first at-bat back a memorable one. To set the scene: He walked to the dish in the top of the first inning against the Chicago White Sox with the bases loaded and one out. Ramirez then delivered a grand slam.
Take a look:
YOU KNOW, BRO 🐐
— SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) September 25, 2019
JOSE RAMIREZ WITH A GRAND SLAM HOME RUN PITCH IN HIS FIRST AT-BAT BACK IN THE @INDIANS LINEUP‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/5olDJlIOmv
Ramirez then came up again in the third inning, this time with two runners on and -- yes, he hit another homer, this time from the other side of the plate:
YOU GUYS, HE DID IT AGAIN 😲😲😲
— SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) September 25, 2019
Jose Ramirez hits ANOTHER home run, this time from the right side of the plate to give him two on the night and SEVEN RBI in three innings!!! pic.twitter.com/o6L3GMi5Nn
To recap: Ramirez tallied two homers and seven runs batted in over his first two at-bats in a month. As we noted over the weekend, Ramirez had been on fire in August prior to his injury. In 22 games, he had hit for a 1.077 OPS and had tallied 17 extra-base hits (of 25 total knocks). Yu Chang, who served as Ramirez's primary replacement, has 12 hits in 23 games on the year.
Who knows if Ramirez is going to keep delivering big hits, but he's doing so thus far -- and he could well help Cleveland pull ahead in the American League wild-card race.