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José Ramírez was the headliner, but the second inning in Game 1 of the White Sox-Guardians doubleheader Wednesday was a bit absurd. 

The Guardians entered the bottom of the second with a 1-0 lead. The wacky inning started when Gabriel Arias reached on a Tim Anderson error. It was the second error of the game for Anderson and third for the White Sox. The Guardians then recorded five consecutive singles, making it a 3-0 game with the bases loaded for Ramírez. And he broke the game wide open. 

We'll get back to Mr. Ramírez in a second. 

The Guardians' inning continued. I know, I know. It was shocking to see a grand slam not immediately kill the rally! Three more singles followed before another Anderson error -- yes, his third of the game -- and then Oscar Mercado's second single of the inning plated one more run. 

That was a nine spot for the Guardians. Thirteen batters went to the plate. White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel didn't last the inning -- in fact, he didn't record an out -- but he was charged with eight earned runs (10 total) on 10 hits in just one-plus innings. 

Ramírez already led the majors with 15 RBI, so he's up to 19 in just the Guardians' 10th game. He has three career top-three finishes in AL MVP voting and finished sixth last season, but he's off to the type of start that leads to a career year. He was hitting .457/.500/.886 before the game started. 

The grand slam was the second of the season for Ramírez, too, and that's notable. Only 139 players in recorded history have hit three grand slams in a season. There are only 21 cases with four. Here are the players with five-slam seasons: 

  • Travis Hafner, 6 grand slams, 2006
  • Don Mattingly, 6, 1987
  • Ernie Banks, 5, 1955
  • Jim Gentile, 5, 1961
  • Albert Pujols, 5, 2009
  • Richie Sexson, 5, 2006

Ramírez is well on his way, but grand slams aren't really the types of things that we do "paces" for. They are events of circumstance and coincidence. Per Sarah Langs of MLB, Ramírez is the only Cleveland player to hit two grand slams before the end of April.

The start as a whole is worth observation, of course. Ramírez has been a one-man wrecking crew. This comes after heated trade rumors in the spring that came to a screeching halt when the Guardians announced a seven-year, $141 million extension just before the season started.