BOSTON — Hanley Ramirez probably goes on riverboat gambling trips. He might even brew his own beer, make his own beef jerky and pee with the door open from time to time.
It’s what guys do. And Ramirez showed Sunday he’s a man’s man by flicking a one-handed, go-ahead home run into the Green Monster seats in the seventh inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros at Fenway Park.
“I just swing hard, just in case I hit it,” Ramirez reasoned after the game.
Ramirez’s clutch homer against the Astros wasn’t his hardest swing of the season. Far from it. This is a guy who routinely hits lasers, explaining his team-high 18 home runs and 43 RBIs.
But Sunday’s blast was a true testament to Ramirez’s power. Astros reliever Tony Sipp, who walked David Ortiz on 11 pitches with one out in the seventh, had Ramirez out in front of a 1-2 changeup located down and away, yet the slugger reached out and swatted it over the 37-foot wall in left field.
It even looked effortless — like he was slapping a bug that needed to exit his domain or a ping-pong ball back across the table in a friendly pickup game.
“I think it just tells you how strong he is,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “Once he gets the barrel of the bat (on it), even in the first at-bat of the series, he drives the ball out of the ballpark on Friday night.
“But when he’s able to make solid contact, he’s got the ability to drive the ball out of any park. Even if he is fooled, because his plate coverage is so good, he’s able to give us a lead. And a big one at that.”
Ramirez has five home runs over his last 10 games dating back to June 19. He has three in his last four contests. But his clutch homer off Sipp was one the Red Sox desperately needed.
Boston trailed 4-3 after Alexi Ogando surrendered three runs on two homers in the top of the seventh inning, and the Sox were in jeopardy of missing an opportunity to make up ground in the American League East, as the division-leading New York Yankees lost 8-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
“We’ve come back multiple times in this series and the way our offense is starting to come together, we’re capable of doing that more frequently,” Farrell said of the come-from-behind win. “But obviously a timely two-run homer by Hanley. … You look at the 11-pitch at-bat prior to Hanley, it may have taken a little bit out of Sipp in that moment. But still, a key win here (Sunday). A good series win.”
Ramirez, who served as the designated hitter with David Ortiz playing first base in place of the struggling Mike Napoli, is hitting .333 (9-for-27) with five homers and 10 RBIs in seven games as a DH this season.
Maybe it’s a coincidence. Or maybe it’s something he simply feels comfortable doing. Either way, don’t expect Farrell to go rogue and start using Ramirez as his full-time DH. Papi still has that spot on lock.
That OK with you, Hanley?
“It don’t matter. I just want to be in the lineup and keep winning.”
Spoken like a true boss.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
