"You could tell he was dragging," Francona said of Ramirez before Friday's loss. "The kid has been on the bases a lot. The last couple days, I think he knew he probably needed one, but he was swinging the bat so well."
In the Tribe's previous 10 games, Ramirez churned out 24 hits, including 15 extra-base hits, posting a .522 average and 1.582 OPS in that span. He was one of the few Indians players to play all four games in a three-day span in Minneapolis last weekend, and Francona hesitated to remove his bat from the lineup given how locked in the switch-hitter was at the plate.