Ramos on skid: 'We have to keep fighting'

The Tigers left Cleveland searching for offense and stability after a three-game series sweep that included six runs scored and two injuries to veteran players. But a key answer could come from behind the plate.

“We have to talk,” catcher Wilson Ramos said after Sunday’s 5-2 loss, “because we need some more energy. We need some more energy out there. We need to keep our head up. It's hard right now, losing four in a row, but we have to keep fighting. We have to go out there and do our best.

“At some point, Miggy or me -- I know Miggy's not here, [so] probably me -- I have to do it and try to give some confidence to the guys. That's what I think.”

With Miguel Cabrera on the injured list with a left biceps strain, the Tigers might be leaning on the 33-year-old Ramos a little more in the clubhouse and on the field.

Twice in three games at Progressive Field, Ramos hit tape-measure home runs to center field. Sunday’s drive off Nick Wittgren went 407 feet to right-center, two days after his 443-foot homer sailed into the trees beyond straightaway center.

Ramos’ solo homers accounted for a third of the Tigers’ runs for the series. Detroit hit .143 (13-for-91) in the series with six walks and 28 strikeouts, scored all but one of its runs on homers, and didn’t put a runner in scoring position for the first two games before going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position Sunday.

“I think for us, the lesson coming away from today is the big, critical at-bats for [Cleveland] ended in contact and runs,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “And we had a lot of critical at-bats that ended in swing-and-misses.”

Ramos did not play the middle game of the series, with Grayson Greiner catching Tarik Skubal and Nomar Mazara at designated hitter. But as Hinch looks for an offensive jolt with Cabrera out, that playing time could tick up. Greiner has been catching young starters Skubal and Casey Mize. Ramos was the DH when Mize started last Tuesday, and he will do the same for Monday’s opener in Houston against Zack Greinke, Hinch said.

Add Ramos’ homers in Cleveland to his drives to Comerica Park’s left-field corner Monday and Wednesday against the Twins, and he has homered in four of his last five games. He’s the first Tiger to homer in three consecutive games since Jonathan Schoop did it last July, and the first Tigers catcher to do so since Alex Avila in 2017.

In the process, Ramos is filling a glaring void in the Tigers lineup. Detroit catchers combined for five home runs in 2020. Ramos is one away from tying that mark less than two weeks into the season. He could become the first Tigers catcher with double-digit homers in a season since Avila and James McCann hit 11 and 13, respectively, in 2017.

His first three homers this year came against offspeed pitches, with his bat providing the exit velocity, until he hit Wittgren’s fastball Sunday. All four homers were hit at 105 mph or harder, according to Statcast.

This is potentially the offensive rejuvenation Ramos was looking for when he signed with Detroit. He needed regular at-bats to do it, and the Tigers offered that.

“I feel good. I feel relaxed at the plate right now,” Ramos said. “I don’t want to be too aggressive. I’m just looking for my pitch, looking for a good pitch in the zone. Today [Wittgren] threw me a couple fastballs, threw me a changeup for a ball, and then he came in with a high fastball. I connected with the ball pretty well to center field."

Ramos’ 10 strikeouts are a concern with much of the rest of the team. His lone strikeout Sunday was an eight-pitch battle against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase with a runner on in the ninth. Ramos fouled off back-to-back 100 mph cutters and a slider, then took a breaking ball just off the inside corner but chased another 100 mph cutter off the plate.

“I tried to get too big the last swing,” Ramos said. “But right now, I’m concentrating on being relaxed at the plate and getting a good pitch to hit, and I feel good doing that.”