Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez smashed two two-run homers and ace Shane Bieber turned in another dominating performance as Cleveland defeated the Kansas City Royals, 4-2, Wednesday at Progressive Field.
Second in the 2020 American League MVP voting, Ramirez connected off Jesse Hahn in the sixth inning and off Greg Holland in the eighth.
Ramirez recorded his first two long balls the season, both to right field. The first was a towering blast with a 6.8 second hang time, the second a line drive.
Reigning AL Cy Young winner Bieber struck out 12 for the second time this season, marking the 17th time in his career he has reached double digits. Bieber did the same in a quality start on opening day at Detroit on April 1, but took the loss.
Against the Royals, Bieber (0-1, 3.65 ERA) allowed two earned runs on three hits and walked four.
Emmanuel Clase (1-0, 0.00) pitched the eighth and recorded the victory and Nick Wittgren recorded his first save for Cleveland (2-3), which won for the first time at home.
The first blast by Ramirez gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead. Ramirez nearly had the same result on the first pitch he saw from Hahn, but a long ball to right sailed foul. Ramirez’s second homer scored center fielder Ben Gamel, who drew a leadoff walk.
Bieber threw 103 pitches (65 for strikes) before being lifted with two on and one out in the seventh. Nicky Lopez slapped reliever James Karinchak’s first pitch into right center to score Kyle Isbel and tie the game 2-2.
Salvador Perez put the Royals on top 1-0, bashing Bieber’s first pitch of the fourth inning 419 feet into trees behind the center field wall.
Cleveland threatened in the seventh off Royals right-hander Scott Barlow as Josh Naylor and Jake Bauers delivered one-out singles to center. But Barlow whiffed three in the inning, getting Roberto Perez looking and Andres Gimenez swinging to disappoint the home crowd.
The sputtering Cleveland offense, which came into the day batting .205, managed just one hit in the first five innings. That came on a two-out single to center by Naylor in the second, but Bauers followed with a groundout to short.
But then Ramirez ignited the home team.
Right-hander Jakob Junis started in what was slated to be a bullpen game for the Royals. Junis retired seven consecutive batters before walking Bauers in the fifth. After a mound visit by manager Mike Matheny, Junis was allowed to finish the inning and fanned Perez. Junis allowed one hit and struck out six.
