Ramirez ties record with 4 HRs

Jose Ramirez became the sixth player to club four home runs and Philly blasted 10 homers in all, tying a league record, in a 17-2 thrashing at Livingston Stadium (Citi Field 2016) on Thursday night.

Batting second, Ramirez launched two-run blasts in each of his first three at-bats -- in the 1st, 2nd and 4th innings -- before a solo shot in the 6th. He drew a two-out walk in the 7th, later scoring on Jay Bruce's three-run homer. All four dongs by Ramirez went to right field in some fashion, one to right center and another down the line. His only blemish was on defense, committing an error in the 7th.

The switch-hitting third baseman was due up a sixth time in the 9th inning but manager Jimmy Duggan called off the dogs at that point, sending up pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso, who grounded out.

Ramirez became the 6th player in DMBL history to mash four homers in a game:

• Josh Donaldson, Poovey Farms v. Hoboken, May 2016
• Chris Carter, Hillsborough v. Amityville, August 2013
• Rafael Palmeiro, Kentucky v. Columbia, May 2000
• Jeff Bagwell, Vancouver v. Jerusalem, April 1998
• Jose Canseco, Arkansas v. Newark July 1997

Philly matched a league record with 10 home runs, tying the mark set by the Newark Sugar Bears in June 1998 against the Honolulu Sharks.

The Green Rage went back-to-back not once, not twice but thrice. They started the game with three straight hits: Daniel Murphy singled, Ramirez homered, and Tommy Pham homered. Ramirez and Pham went back-to-back again in the 4th -- off two different pitchers -- and in a 7-run 7th inning, Justin Upton and Murphy cracked consecutive homers off Gerrit Cole. Even pinch-hitters got into the act: Caleb Joseph, batting for Upton in the 9th, smacked a solo homer off Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Philly plated 3 runs in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 3 more in the 4th and single runs in the 6th and 9th with the biggest inning being the 7th when 7 runs crossed the plate. Philly finished with 20 hits and 17 runs. Michael Fulmer was the beneficiary, costing 7 innings for the win to improve to 11-12, including 5-5 with the Green Rage.

Livingston starter Joe Musgrove was tagged for 7 runs on 9 hits in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss but it was Cole who was lit up even worse. Chris Devenski went 2 1/3 innings in relief of Musgrove before Cole started the 7th inning with two strikeouts. A single and a walk later, No. 9 hitter Justin Upton homered and Daniel Murphy followed with a solo shot. Cole also gave up the three-run blast to Bruce, getting just those two outs but yielding 7 runs on 5 hits.

This year's All-Star Game MVP finished 4-4 with 7 RBI and 5 runs scored, one short of tying another record, bringing his season line to an impressive .310/.360/.610, with 29 homers, 78 RBI and 88 runs scored. The 25-year-old Dominican has been leading the league in doubles pretty much all year, and with 61 doubles through 124 games, he could become the second player ever to hit 70 doubles in a season and on pace for 75. That would break the record of 72, set in 2008 by Newark's Matt Stairs and surpass one of the all-time great one-year wonder seasons in 2000 when Terry Shumpert smacked 69 doubles for Jerusalem (now Marietta).

Ramirez wasn't the only star performance on Thursday night. Sardine City's Corey Kluber (15-5) threw a four-hit shutout, his second of the season, blanking San Francisco, 3-0, as Chris Sale (7-16) struck out 10 in a loss.