St. Louis Cardinals reliever Roel Ramirez made his Major League debut Sunday against the Chicago White Sox. And the 25-year-old right-hander made history during it, but unfortunately for him, it wasn’t the kind of history big-league hopefuls dream of.
In for the Cardinals in the bottom of the fifth replacing starter Dakota Hudson, the White Sox’s offense exploded as Ramirez gave up four consecutive home runs and Chicago quickly went from a 1-0 lead to a 7-0 lead. That’s right: Ramirez gave up back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in St. Louis’ 7-2 loss.
First, it was a three-run homer to Yoán Moncada, but then Yasmani Grandal, José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez each followed up with solo shots.
While Ramirez is not the first pitcher to allow that many homers in his first game in the majors, he is the first player to give up four straight, according to MLB.com reporter and editor Sarah Langs.
Needless to say, after that fourth home run, Seth Elledge replaced Ramirez, but the damage was done. That’s certainly not an ideal start for anyone in the majors, but as Langs and others pointed out, at least he made it to the big leagues, which is more than most people can say.
And to be fair, this is the first series since July after a COVID-19 outbreak on the team — 10 players and eight staff members tested positive since July 29 — halted its schedule and led to multiple roster changes. But St. Louis won its first two games back against the White Sox in a doubleheader Saturday before losing Sunday.
Here’s an individual look at each consecutive White Sox dingers:
