NEW YORK -- Hitting 30 home runs and stealing 30 bases in the same season is an accomplishment for a reason -- it’s hard to do, and it isn’t done very often. In Cleveland Guardians franchise history, which dates back to 1901, no player had ever done it twice. That is, until Thursday.

José Ramírez swiped himself that particular slice of franchise history in the team’s 6-0 loss at Yankee Stadium, stealing his 30th base of the season following a walk in the sixth inning to record his second career 30-30 season. Ramírez, who has 32 homers, compiled his first 30-30 season in 2018, when he hit 39 homers with 34 steals.

Ramírez is the second player in MLB with a 30-30 season in 2024, along with the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. The six-time All-Star is also one of only three Cleveland players to ever go 30-30, and the first since Grady Sizemore in 2008. Joe Carter also achieved the feat in 1987.

“He’s our sparkplug for a reason,” Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan said. “I want to learn as much as I can from him. He picks his spots. It never feels like it’s forced. He has his spots, he takes them. He’s never stat-padding. They are meaningful statistics, so it’s always really fun to watch.”

Additionally, Ramírez is one of only four third basemen to go 30-30, the first since David Wright in 2007. Ramírez and Howard Johnson are the only third basemen to do it multiple times. Tommy Harper also did it for Milwaukee in 1970.

Ramírez’s stolen base Thursday also inched him higher on Cleveland’s all-time list, pushing him one behind Ray Chapman for fifth in franchise history with 232. Ramírez is on pace for 38 steals this season, and he has averaged 19 per season and 26 every 162 games over his 12-year career. If he maintains those projections, he could put himself in a position to challenge Omar Vizquel (279) for second in franchise history in the near future. Kenny Lofton leads the way with 452.

Steals are only one of several leaderboards Ramírez should find himself climbing through the length of his current contract, which runs through 2028.

“He’s hunting his numbers wherever he goes,” Kwan said. “He knows his spots to go get them, and that’s still a charge for us, to see a guy care about those things and the little things as well.”

Ramírez's milestone was a bright spot on an otherwise listless day for Cleveland’s offense, which managed only Kwan’s leadoff single in the series finale against Gerrit Cole and three Yankees relievers. The loss was Cleveland’s fifth in six games. The Guardians have scored only five runs total in those five defeats, and they are now 12-42 (.222 winning percentage) when scoring three runs or fewer. They’ve plated three runs or fewer in their past nine losses.

“I think it’s just been a tough week,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We had a tough road trip offensively. We ran into tough pitching and also didn’t have great at-bats at the same time. Every team is going to go through a little stretch like this. It was a tough week for us.”

The Guardians have the second-worst team OPS (.639) in baseball in the second half. With Thursday’s loss, the Guardians also forfeited the head-to-head tiebreaker to New York, which will be important should the teams finish with identical records as division winners. The Guardians and Yankees entered their three-game set this week both leading their divisions and separated by only one-half game record-wise.

“We have to regroup and get back to being ourselves, go back to having good at-bats,” Vogt said. “We are a good offensive team, we’ve shown that the whole year.”