Jose Ramirez homered from both sides of the plate in a four-RBI performance as the Indians again roughed up Tigers ace Justin Verlander, this time for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings Sunday afternoon, leading Cleveland to an 11-8 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series at Comerica Park.
“It’s been fun to watch,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Ramirez’s season. “It’s both sides of the plate. He gets so dangerous when he’s on one of these [runs]. It’s not just getting singles. He’s hitting the ball a long way.”
Over his past 20 games, Ramirez has hit .446 with a 1.393 OPS in 90 plate appearances. In that span, the switch-hitter has nearly four times as many extra-base hits (22) as strikeouts (six). On Sunday, he became the first Indians player to homer from both sides of the plate twice in one season.
Two-plus months after the Indians put up nine runs in four innings against Verlander in Cleveland, leading Verlander (5-5) to publicly wonder about tipping pitches and sign stealing, the Tribe left the veteran right-hander without a strikeout in a game for the first time in 10 years. Lonnie Chisenhall’s two-run homer in the second began the barrage. Ramirez hit a solo homer in the third before greeting Chad Bell with a three-run homer in the fourth, his 15th of the season.
“First inning, fell behind a couple guys. After that, I just got my butt kicked,” Verlander said.
Verlander did not record a strikeout in a game for the first time since April 28, 2007, ending a streak of 331 consecutive starts. The streak tied him with Curt Schilling for sixth-longest in Major League history.
Indians starter Mike Clevinger (4-3) was also wobbly early, walking five of Detroit’s first 13 batters, before settling down to retire 11 of the final 12 Tigers he faced. He allowed just one run over six innings. James McCann singled in a run in the seventh before his three-run homer in the ninth, plus a Nicholas Castellanos two-run shot, closed the gap before Cody Allen retired Andrew Romine for his 16th save.
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