Cleveland Guardians Third Baseman José Ramírez Joins 250-Home Run Club
The Cleveland Guardians were already well on their way to victory when José Ramírez made history.
The 31-year-old third baseman crushed a solo home run to left with one out in the top of the seventh inning, giving the Guardians a 5-1 lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cleveland went on to win 6-1 on Sunday, bolstering their lead atop the AL Central to 3.0 games.
Ramírez's home run was his 34th of the season and the 250th of his career. He is now one of two players to hit 250 home runs in a Cleveland uniform, joining Jim Thome in the franchise history books.
There are now seven primary third baseman in American League history who have reached 250 career home runs.
Ramírez was named an All-Star for the sixth time in his career earlier this summer. He has one more month to fend off Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers and win a fifth Silver Slugger.
On the whole in his career, Ramírez is a .279 hitter with 1,472 hits, 250 home runs, 236 stolen bases, 851 RBI, an .855 OPS and a 50.8 WAR. Ramírez is one of five players to rack up at least 250 home runs and 230 stolen bases in the 2000s, and he is the only one ever to do so with the Guardians.
Ramírez has missed an average of just nine games a year since becoming an everyday player in 2016. Cleveland went to the World Series that year, and they own the fourth-best record in baseball over the last nine seasons with Ramírez anchoring the lineup.
He is batting .275 with 34 home runs, 105 RBI, 34 stolen bases, an .863 OPS and a 5.2 WAR this season.
Now that they claimed their series with the Pirates, Ramírez and the Guardians are set to open a road series against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.
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