Another day, another step closer for the Guardians in the AL Central race.
This team just keeps winning!
The team’s latest success came against the Colorado Rockies in a 4-3 10-inning thriller.
With the win, Cleveland advanced half a game in the AL Central race after Minnesota dropped a game to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
The Guardians now only trail Minnesota by two-and-a-half games.
If Cleveland can stay on the Twins’ heals against the Rockies and upcoming against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they’ll have a real shot to overtake Minnesota in a showdown series later in the month.
But Cleveland needs to make the most out of the next two opponents, considering Minnesota has to play the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners over the same stretch.
The D-Backs aren’t nearly the same level of competition as the Dodgers.
The only thing Cleveland can do is keep the winning train going, full steam ahead.
José Finds A Way
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: José Ramirez is singularly excellent.
And he continued his strong play against the Rockies on Tuesday.
In the top of the tenth, the game knotted at 3-3, Ramirez sent a double scorching down the first-base line.
The extra-base hit allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Perhaps even more incredible, Ramirez was responsible for 75% of Cleveland’s runs on Tuesday, bursting for three RBIs.
Naturally, fans were thrilled about Cleveland’s play, with some singling out Ramirez for his heroics:
Like I was saying. https://t.co/B77Gcwj2Nh
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) June 15, 2022
BOOK IT!
The @CleGuardians take this one in 10!#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/uY39QzR1Lp
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) June 15, 2022
Baseball's best player and RBI leader is at it again. 🐐#ForTheLand | #VoteGuards pic.twitter.com/hfIHx8TW3i
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) June 15, 2022
Steven Kwan, pure hustle.
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) June 15, 2022
Cleveland hasn’t won in Denver in 20 years .. until tonight .. 4-3 Guardians in 10👍
— Al Pawlowski (@AlPawlowski) June 15, 2022
JOSE THE 🐐 RAMIREZ IS THE BEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL THATS THE TWEET #ForTheLand
— Chuck 22 (@Chuck63618910) June 15, 2022
With the solid performance, Ramirez extended his lead atop the MLB in RBIs with 62 on the season.
Only two other players have more than fifty: Mets slugger Pete Alonso (59) and Cardinals stud Paul Goldschmidt (56).
Ramirez is also top-25 in hits (63) and average (.292).
It’s no secret that Cleveland’s offense rises and falls on Ramirez’s bat.
When the Guardians win, Ramirez usually has some say in the matter.
In Cleveland’s 30 wins, Ramirez is batting .342 with 48 RBIs and 11 homers.
In losses, those numbers plummet — .240 average, five homers, and just 14 RBIs.
Offense In Action
The Rockies game on Tuesday was a perfect distillation of the Guardians’ offensive philosophy.
That philosophy is being hit for contact, not for runs.
Rather than rely on home runs and moonshots, Cleveland seems content just making contact with the ball and getting on base.
And on Tuesday, that was not a problem at all.
The Guardians tallied 12 total hits, with every single player except Austin Hedges, Ernie Clement, and Myles Straw all recording a hit.
Others, like Ramirez, Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor, and Steven Kwan recorded multiple hits in the game.
But somehow those 12 hits only equated to four runs.
On Tuesday, four runs ended up being enough to secure the win.
But on plenty of other occasions, the Guardians have been burned by strong hitting performances that failed to turn into runs.
While Franmil Reyes might be out of a place in the lineup when he returns, there’s an argument to be made that his power hitting is precisely what the club needs.
Unfortunately, Reyes wasn’t hitting particularly well before he went down with an injury.
For now, we can celebrate the win and development of young talent, but there will certainly be more games where the lack of hits-turning-into-runs hurts the team.
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