Joey Cantillo did not have his best night on the mound Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. He had a front row seat to watch someone who did.
The Cleveland Guardians left hander was pulled after four innings after allowing four runs on six hits with three walks, a difficult outing that the bullpen ultimately bailed him out of in decisive fashion. But when the reporters gathered around his locker in the visiting clubhouse after a 9-4 Cleveland victory, Cantillo was not talking about his own performance. He was talking about Jose Ramirez.
“He’s one of the best players in the world. He’s been hitting the ball so hard. He’s been playing like how he always plays. He’s just kind of had a little tough luck recently. But we know what he’s gonna do, we know what he’s capable of,” Cantillo said.
#Guardians starter Joey Cantillo praised José Ramírez to reporters in NY following today’s performance:
“He's one of the best players in the world. He's been hitting the ball so hard. He’s been playing like how he always plays. He's just kind of had a little tough luck…
— Cade Cracas (@CracasCade) June 3, 2026
The belief inside that Cleveland clubhouse in Ramirez has never wavered. Cantillo’s comments make that clear. The players see the exit velocity. They see the at bats. They see the barrel working the right way in early work and in live batting practice. They knew the results were coming, and Tuesday night in the Bronx delivered on everything they believed was right around the corner.
Ramirez smacked three doubles and drove in the go ahead run in a performance that was as convincing a statement as any Cleveland fan could have asked for from their franchise cornerstone heading into June. He entered the game hitting .228 overall and .198 on the road, numbers that prompted genuine concern about whether something had changed mechanically or mentally for the 33-year-old third baseman. What Tuesday revealed is that nothing had changed at all. The approach was right, the contact quality was there, and the balls simply needed to start finding gaps instead of outfielders.
Three doubles in one game at Yankee Stadium against a pitching staff as good as New York’s is not a lucky night. That is a player locked in and performing at the level his reputation demands.
Cantillo said he knows what Ramirez is gonna do and knows what he is capable of. After Tuesday night, the rest of baseball has been reminded of exactly the same thing.
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