Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Omaha's Ramirez drives home six

Veteran catcher homers twice; Giavotella goes deep in rout
April 16, 2012
After bouncing around between three Triple-A teams last summer, Max Ramirez is on a mission to make himself at home in Omaha this year.

Ramirez continued his hot streak with a pair of homers and a career-high six RBIs, hitting two of the Storm Chasers' four longballs in Omaha's 12-10 win at Albuquerque on Monday afternoon.

The veteran catcher, who last appeared in the Majors in 2010, has three home runs in his last two games and five dingers in his last six. The 27-year-old is batting .345 and has driven in 18 runs since Opening Day.

Royals' second base prospect Johnny Giavotella homered in the first inning en route to driving in three runs and outfielder David Lough added his first homer of the season in the second. The Storm Chasers posted a pair of five-run rallies in a game that featured a combined 26 hits, eight pitchers, 22 runs and two errors.

For Ramirez, the hot start has him turning back the clock -- his five home runs in the past two weeks match his entire season total from 2009.

Albuquerque delivered the first big rally in the third when Matt Angle and Elian Herrera hit consecutive RBI triples, Herrera scored on Vin Mazzaro's wild pitch and Alex Castellanos followed with his first homer.

Omaha answered in the fourth when Ramirez crushed a three-run homer off Michael Antonini. Giavotella added a two-run single to cap the frame.

The Isotopes came back with another four-run inning in the bottom of the frame -- Luis Cruz hit a two-RBI double, Herrera knocked him home and Castellanos clubbed a run-scoring triple.

Ramirez capped a five-run outburst in the eighth with a three-run homer to right to chase Wil Ledezma.

It was Ramirez's first two-homer effort since the final game of the 2011 season when he hit a pair on Sept. 5, 2011 for Triple-A Fresno. Ramirez, who also homered twice on July 29, 2005 with Rookie-level Danville, also saw time last year with Triple-A Oklahoma City and Iowa, hitting .278 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs overall.

Danny Wild is an editor for MLB.com.