SAN DIEGO -- The Guardians are MLB¡¯s youngest team and are in the middle of a playoff race. That generally is a combination for a lot of high-stress games.

So a fairly stress-free afternoon delivered by the cornerstone of the franchise is a welcome thing, indeed.

Veteran third baseman Jos¨¦ Ram¨ªrez set the tone Wednesday afternoon with his 20th career multi-homer game as Cleveland cruised to a 7-0 victory at Petco Park, completing a two-game Interleague sweep of the Padres.

¡°I'm glad he's in our uniform every day because he plays the game right,¡± manager Terry Francona said. ¡°He's not always going to hit two home runs, but he shows up every day and gives you an honest effort.¡±

Ram¨ªrez provided the Guardians¡¯ first two runs with a solo homer in the first inning and another to lead off the fourth. Both came off former AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell -- the Padres¡¯ hottest pitcher, who had his start bumped up after Yu Darvish hit the paternity list.

Ram¨ªrez also logged a sacrifice fly in the seventh to cap a three-RBI game, boosting his season total to 103. His second homer sparked a five-run fourth inning, which gave starting pitcher Cal Quantrill a comfortable cushion against the team that traded him to Cleveland in 2020.

Consider Quantrill appreciative that Ram¨ªrez is playing behind him rather than facing him at the plate.

¡°He¡¯s a menace,¡± Quantrill said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how else to say it. He¡¯s such an issue to deal with. There¡¯s no clear scouting report on him. ¡­ For me, so much focus is going into getting a guy like him out that inevitably, the people around start to get better and better pitches to succeed.

¡°He¡¯s just such a threat. You take your foot off the pedal, he hits two home runs. If he doesn¡¯t hit home runs, he¡¯s walking and stealing bases. He¡¯s a complete player. I don¡¯t have enough praise. He¡¯s a top-five player in this sport. He¡¯s a good leader on this team, and we¡¯re happy to have him.¡±

Quantrill cruised through seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out six. Quantrill faced one serious threat -- the Padres loaded the bases against him with two outs in the seventh inning -- and he ended it by striking out Jorge Alfaro on an 0-2 curveball with his 99th and final pitch.

Quantrill said he didn¡¯t think about pitching against his former club for the second time -- or in Petco Park for the first time since the trade -- but he punctuated that final out with a series of three fist pumps on his way to the dugout.

¡°Apparently, I really did care a lot,¡± Quantrill quipped.

In his fourth MLB season and 27 years old, Quantrill qualifies as a sage veteran on this ballclub. The Guardians have had 14 players make their MLB debut in 2022, and they are baseball¡¯s youngest club among both position players (26.0 years old) and pitchers (26.4 years old), according to Baseball-Reference.com. Yet they lead the AL Central.

¡°I like the way we're playing against playoff-caliber teams,¡± Quantrill said. ¡°That's a really good team over there. ¡­ That's a team that's in the playoff race, and we're playing really good baseball against teams like that. That's important.¡±

It is notable that both of Ram¨ªrez¡¯s homers came off the tough left-hander Snell. Before Wednesday, Ram¨ªrez¡¯s power swing had come mostly from the left side. He had 19 homers batting left-handed, one every 20 plate appearances. He had four batting right-handed, one for every 31 PAs.

But Ram¨ªrez had an answer for each challenge presented by Snell, who had a 1.60 ERA in six second-half starts entering Wednesday. Snell told reporters he might have been tipping his pitches -- and the Guardians saw plenty of them in a 43-pitch fourth inning.

With two outs in the first inning, Ram¨ªrez took a fastball for a strike and swung through a second one. When Snell tried to bury another fastball inside, Ram¨ªrez jumped on the 0-2 pitch and drove it 371 feet to left field, his 24th homer of the season.

To start the fourth, Ram¨ªrez took a fastball for a strike, then saw two sliders as the count ran to 1-2. When Snell again showed Ram¨ªrez the same pitch for the third straight time, the third baseman delivered the same result. Ram¨ªrez golfed the low slider to left-center, clearing the wall with a 407-foot drive for home run No. 25.

¡°He¡¯s smart, man,¡± Francona said. ¡°His baseball intelligence is off the charts.¡±

Oscar Gonzalez went back to back with Ram¨ªrez in the fourth, giving the Guardians five homers in the two-game series. It marked only the third time this year the Guardians -- who rank 29th among all 30 MLB teams with 99 home runs -- have hit at least five homers in a two-game span.