MLB: Ramirez’s Minor League Tour coming to an end
By Dylan Hernandez
Los Angeles Times
SAN BERNARDINO — Manny Ramirez’s weeklong tour of the minors probably will end Monday night here.
Ramirez is tentatively scheduled to play for the Class-A Inland Empire 66ers again on Tuesday for the series finale against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, but sources in his camp are saying he probably will skip the game because of its 11 a.m. start time.
Ramirez had a quiet night Sunday, as he was 0 for 2 with two strikeouts and a walk. He also played six innings in left field in front of his fourth sold-out crowd in four minor league games, this one counted at 6,424.
The night was memorable for Quakes starter Alexander Torres, a 21-year-old left-hander from Venezuela who pitched in the California/Carolina League All-Star Game last week.
Torres was saddled with the loss in the 66ers’ 4-1 victory, but said he never would forget this night.
“This doesn’t happen every day,” he said of pitching to Ramirez.
Torres walked Ramirez on six pitches in the first inning.
“He likes to take a lot of pitches,” Torres said. “I saw that in his first at-bat. I threw some pitches really close to the zone, and he didn’t swing at them.”
So Torres attacked Ramirez the next two times he faced him. Ramirez fell behind 0-2 in the count in both of those at-bats.
Torres struck him out with a curveball in the third inning and a changeup in the fourth.
Ramirez, who caught a fly ball in the fourth inning, is scheduled to be the 66ers’ designated hitter tonight.