BOSTON — Hanley Ramirez has high hopes for the Red Sox team he just helped power to back-to-back demolitions of the Oakland A’s.
“There’s something very, very special right now, and not only one guy,” Ramirez said shortly after Boston had put the finishing touches on a 13-5 victory Tuesday night at Fenway Park. “From the top all the way to the bottom, to the pitcher — everybody. Bullpen. We’ve just got to keep rolling.”
The blowout win came one night after the Red Sox’s most explosive offensive exhibition of the season: a 14-7 pasting of the A’s in which Ramirez & Co. set a new single-game season high for runs scored and racked up 15 hits — tying a nine-inning season high the Sox surpassed with Tuesday’s 16-hit barrage.
Boston’s 183 runs this season (an average of 5.55 per game) lead the American League and rank second in the majors behind the Chicago Cubs (192).
“The work level we put in every day,” Ramirez said when asked what’s made the Red Sox’s offense so dangerous. “The preparation. Not only one guy — everybody. You go down in the cage — we’ve got only one batting cage — and it’s a long, long line. Everybody is ready to play every day.”
Ramirez certainly has been ready to play of late — not that he wasn’t earlier in the season. The 32-year-old consistently has kept his batting average close to .300 and has played nearly flawless defense at his new position, first base, but only recently has he begun to display the power the Red Sox want from a middle-of-the-order bat like himself.
The 468-foot home run Ramirez scorched off A’s starter Sean Manaea in the first inning Tuesday night was his third in seven games after he began the season with just one homer in his first 24 contests.
“He’s been pretty hot all year, I would say,” said Travis Shaw, who also homered Tuesday as part of a 3-for-4, five-RBI night. “He’s hitting over .300. (He’s) another bat in the middle of the order, another guy who take you out of the ballpark and any single time, any single pitch. When the middle-of-the-order guys are clicking, and the bottom of the order can get on, and the top of the order can get on, this could be a dangerous lineup.”
On top of continuing a promising upward trend in Ramirez’s power numbers, his home run also was a certified moonshot, traveling farther than all but one hit in the majors this season: a 474-footer off the bat of Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton.
If Ramirez has his way, Stanton will not own that title for long.
“He got lucky,” Ramirez said with a laugh. “I’m going to beat it, though.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
