Cleveland Indians fans witnessed a bizarre game Friday night that featured a comeback all while everyone was wondering if Jose Ramirez was injured.
It was a lot to take in.
Ramirez was beaned in the top of the eighth inning on his foot and had to exit the game.
This came right in the middle of a furious comeback that ultimately fell short, as the Indians woke up and turned an 11-1 deficit into a tight, 11-10 loss.
But one game against the Pittsburgh Pirates was trumped in importance by Ramirez’s status.
Luckily, he has escaped without serious injury.
José RamÃrez is not in the Indians' starting lineup today. He exited last night with a left foot contusion.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) June 19, 2021
This is great news, because an injury to Ramirez may be one too big to overcome.
Indians Cannot Afford To Lose Their Star
There is so much talk about how the starting rotation is in shambles without Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac.
Such problems can arise when a team only enters a season with three legitimate starters.
Anyway, the offense doing just enough is why the Indians remain in contention.
Ramirez has been carrying the load and is 12th among MLB batters in WAR (2.6), according to FanGraphs.
He has 16 home runs, 40 RBI, and leads the team in most offensive categories.
So the fact he is only missing one day, hopefully, is a great sign after seeing him collapse to the dirt in pain.
Others Starting To Show Up
We're the youngest team in baseball.
While we did not get the win last night, and trailing 11-1 in the 7th isn't exactly a recipe for success, there's a lot of fight in this group.
Our 9-run rally … pic.twitter.com/T60qaWnHHx
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) June 19, 2021
One actual bright spot from Friday was the fact the rest of the lineup banded together to launch a comeback.
Cesar Hernandez hit a grand slam and had five RBI, while Rene Rivera drove in three runs on three hits.
Eddie Rosario even had two hits and came around to score twice.
In fact, Amed Rosario was the only starter outside of the pitching spot who did not come around to score at least once.
The Pirates are, obviously, not a great team.
Their pitching is atrocious and the Indians offense should be able to score big on them all weekend.
However, it is still fair to note how the offense responded following a huge deficit when it would have been easy to just rush through at-bats and move on to Saturday.
A False Alarm
Losing to the Pirates and losing Ramirez in the process would have been an actual nightmare right before the start of summer.
Now, the star can get some rest as the offense looks to have another big day as a whole unit.
The pitching just needs to be better against a Pirates team that should not be scoring 11 runs on any given night.
Friday may end up just being a fluke as the young Indians pitchers continue to be hit-or-miss on a daily basis.
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