CLEVELAND -- As the Progressive Field crowd roared around him, José Ramírez paused and leaned back in the left-handed batter’s box to admire his work. There was no doubt where the baseball he launched to right field was headed. 

That image has played on repeat over the past 14 seasons. This time, it came with a heavy dose of history, and it was well-timed as the Guardians continue to push for the postseason.

Ramírez tallied his 1,000th career RBI on Friday by launching his 297th career home run, in the sixth inning of the Guardians’ matchup with the A’s in the opener of a three-game series. The superstar third baseman joined Earl Averill (1,084) as the only players in Cleveland franchise history to hit the RBI milestone.

The Guardians improved to 79-75 with their third straight win. They entered Friday with the same record as the White Sox, but Chicago technically led the division because it holds the tiebreaker over Cleveland after winning the season series.

It means the Guardians must finish with more wins than the Sox to win the Central for a third straight year. Ramírez helped; his towering blast went a Statcast-projected 401 feet and had a 102.4 mph exit velocity.

Ramírez, who turned 34 years old on Thursday, is now just the 12th active player with 1,000 career RBIs, joining Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Santana, Bryce Harper, Salvador Perez, Mike Trout and Eugenio Suárez.

The home run was Ramírez’s first since Aug. 30 and just his 12th this season. He entered Friday with an uncharacteristic .683 OPS in 117 games, in an injury-impacted campaign after he missed five weeks following left hamate surgery. 

Ramírez has been dealt with the effects of that procedure since he came off the injured list on July 22. On Friday, he reminded us he’s always just one swing away from impacting a game in a big way.