Hit charade could cost Tribe this series

HOUSTON — Jose Ramirez was in the early MVP conversation but a late-season slump took care of that, and now in the postseason, the Indians’ No. 3 hitter is having the same struggles he had in the 2017 ALDS against the Yankees.

In those final three losses to the Yankees after the Tribe ran out to a 2-0 lead, Ramirez was 1-for-11. Ramirez now is 0for-7 in the ALDS. He went 0-for-4 in a 3-1 loss to the Astros on Saturday at Minute Maid Park. The Astros lead the series 2-0, and now the Indians have to do to Houston what the Yankees did to the Indians last October — win three in a row.

The scene shifts to Cleveland on Monday. The Astros’ pitching staff has been pounding the Indians with fastballs up in the zone. The Indians are hitting .150 in the first two losses, so it’s not just Ramirez.

Cleveland is not getting anything from their 2-6 hitters. In the first two games, they are 2-for-35.

If Michael Brantley, Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and Yonder Alonso don’t hit, the Indians have no chance to beat the Astros.

“We just need to find a way to win Monday,” Tito Francona said. “Show up on Monday and play for our baseball life. Nobody wants to go home. So try to keep this thing going.”

Alex Bregman, the Astros’ No. 3 hitter, crushed his second home run of the series to help lift Houston on Saturday.

“It’s the offense that has to come through,” said Francisco Lindor, who homered in the third off Gerrit Cole for Cleveland’s only run.

From mid-August through the end of the season, Ramirez batted .166 with a .307 on-base and .290 slugging percentage.

Over the past two postseasons, the Astros have not lost a game at home to an American League team.

No. 9 hitter Jason Kipnis usually has a good handle on the pulse of the team and he said the Indians are pressing. That is understandable as they have lost five straight postseason games.

“The ‘want-to’ is there,” Kipnis said. “The drive is there, but I think we need to relax a little and have some fun. I think we’re just trying too hard. Baseball is about having fun.”

Losing in October is not fun, and the Indians are one tight team, thanks in part to the collapse against the Yankees.

Clearly their bats have gone into shutdown mode, but this is a team that was just 23-31 versus teams over .500 this season.

Brantley offered this solution to the Indians’ hitting woes: “We already knew going into it Houston has a great pitching staff as a whole. We have to make sure we used every atbat to kind of build off of one another and making sure we had quality at-bats, not trying to do too much.

“I think we went into the postseason thinking to string some hits together and get some momentum. I think that’s all we need to do.”