The baseball-shaped cake with three lit candles went unclaimed as José Ramírez skipped his postgame media availability. His party took place earlier.
Ramírez homered on his 31st birthday to touch off Cleveland’s nine-run fourth inning, leading the Guardians to a 9-2 win and three-game sweep of the playoff-chasing Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Ramírez connected off rookie Cody Bradford (4-2) leading off the fourth and the Guardians kept swinging away. They had a homer, two doubles and six singles in scoring nine runs with nine hits, both their highs for an inning this season.
“We just kept getting hits and kept going,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said.
There wasn’t much the Rangers could do.
“We just got in one of those innings when we just couldn’t stop it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a helpless feeling. What could go wrong, did.”
The Rangers, in the thick of the AL West and wild-card races, came to Cleveland riding a six-game winning streak only to be held to six runs over the weekend.
