Cleveland Guardians star José Ramírez continued his scorching May on Tuesday night, launching his 11th home run of the month in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies (GameTracker). Ramírez is now tied for the major-league lead with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker for the most home runs hit this month.
Here’s a look at the blast, which had a 95 mph exit velocity and carried 392 feet, per Statcast:
Only Kyle Tucker (18), Gunnar Henderson and Aaron Judge (17 apiece) have hit more homers this year in MLB.
Ramírez, 31, started the season mired in a slump. Through his first 28 games, he had hit just .252/.286/.437 with five home runs and six other extra-base hits. He’s corrected his course in May, entering Tuesday night with a .284/.355/.663 slash line and 16 extra-base knocks. Ramírez came into play with seasonal marks that included a .266/.318/.537 slash line (142 OPS+) and an estimated 1.9 Wins Above Replacement, according to the calculations housed at Baseball Reference.
Ramírez’s turnaround has helped the Guardians pull off a 17-8 month to date. That includes a recent nine-game winning streak that included sweeps against the Minnesota Twins (the preseason favorites in the American League Central) and former star shortstop Francisco Lindor‘s New York Mets. The Guardians also swept the lowly Los Angeles Angels.
The Guardians’ winning streak was snapped on Monday with an 8-6 loss in the series opener against the Rockies. Still, Cleveland entered Tuesday with a 36-18 record and a 2 1/2 game lead in the Central over the Kansas City Royals.
The Guardians are without ace Shane Bieber for the season, as well as fellow starters Gavin Williams (elbow inflammation) and Carlos Carrasco (neck spasm) and outfielder Steven Kwan (strained hamstring) for the time being.
