“We Expect It At This Point:” Guardians React To Jose Ramirez’s Heroics

Jose Ramirez shock the Minnesota Twins with a go-ahead home run leading to a Cleveland Guardians victory.

May 17, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) celebrates his solo home run in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Ramirez is one of just a few players in baseball you’d choose to have at the plate with the game on the line. The Minnesota Twins were reminded of this the hard way as J-Ram hit a go-ahead home run off closer Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning of Friday night’s 3-2 victory.

Duran has been one of the best relievers in baseball this season and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli intentionally chose him to come into the eighth inning to match up with the heart of Cleveland’s order.

Ramirez had other plans though. 

José Ramírez DESTROYS this baseball to give the @CleGuardians the lead 😤 pic.twitter.com/YjRdXCdGns

— MLB (@MLB) May 18, 2024

As impressive as this chain of events was, it wasn’t something that necessarily shocked the Cleveland Guardians. Players and coaches have grown accustomed to watching Ramirez pull off amazing feats during his career. 

“I’m running out of adjectives to describe him,” said Stephen Vogt after the win.

“You have to kind of just smile and laugh sometimes because it’s like, are you kidding me? He’s up there against one of the best closers in the game, has a great at-bat, gets a curveball up in the zone, and he just puts us on his shoulders … I can’t be shocked at this point, but it’s just so fun to watch.”

David Fry described what it was like watching on the bench saying, “I looked at [Craig Albernaz] because they had just overturned the steal call and called [Andres Gimenez] out and I said, ‘I really like Minnesota exhaling - okay nobody is on base - into a Jose homer.’ Then two pitches later he did it. Whenever he’s up, we expect it at this point.”

While Ramirez’s heroics are something anticipated by the team and fans, we still can’t take for granted the type of player Ramirez is. Cleveland is lucky he calls this city home.