CLEVELAND _ Jose Ramirez's favorite line for quite some time now, after hitting a home run and being asked what pitch was thrown, has been, "Home run pitch."
Well, as long as pitchers keep throwing him home run pitches, he's likely to keep hitting them. And on Wednesday, one "home run pitch" was enough to support Zach Plesac and the Indians in a 2-0 win over the Texas Rangers in the first game of a traditional doubleheader at Progressive Field.
The Indians (67-46) were hitless until the fifth inning and entered the bottom of the seventh still scoreless with the Rangers. Carlos Santana singled to open the inning against Rangers starter Ariel Jurado, which brought up Ramirez with one out. Jurado then threw a 91-mph fastball middle-up in the zone, and Ramirez crushed it down the right-field line for a go-ahead, two-run home run that ended up being the difference.
It was Ramirez's 15th home run of the season.
Plesac turned in a terrific outing, tossing six scoreless innings and striking out seven to go with five hits and two walks, lowering his ERA to 3.13.
Nick Goody followed with two innings (one hit, three strikeouts) and Brad Hand struck out the side in the ninth for his 28th save.
