José Ramírez’s regular season is over. The postseason remains in play — if the Indians can make it without him.
Cleveland’s hard-hitting third baseman is expected to need five to seven weeks to recover after underdoing hand surgery Monday in New York. Ramírez, whose hot bat the past two months helped get the Indians back into playoff contention, fractured the hamate bone in his right hand while taking a hard swing during the first inning of Saturday’s game against Kansas City.
The team estimates he could be back as early as Oct. 1, when the AL playoffs open.
But the loss of Ramírez will make it tough to reach October for the Indians, who trail first-place Minnesota by 3½ games in the AL Central but have a one-half game lead in the wild-card race with 31 games remaining.
The 26-year-old Ramírez is one of the team’s most indispensable players, providing power to their lineup will playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at third.
After a slow — and strange — start this season, the two-time All-Star snapped out of a batting slump and is again one of the league’s toughest outs. He has raised his batting average over 50 points since early June and has been among baseball’s leaders in extra-base hits during the season’s second half.
The Indians said hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham confirmed the club’s diagnosis of the fracture and felt surgery was the appropriate course of action for Ramirez, who finished third in AL MVP voting the past two seasons.
While he is sidelined, Indians manager Terry Francona intends to use both rookie Yu Chang and Mike Freeman at third. Chang got his first two major league hits on Sunday, when he started after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus.
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