After mammoth home run, Hanley Ramirez sets sights on Stanton

12:58 AM ET

BOSTON — First, Hanley Ramirez tossed his bat like a twig after belting one of the longest home runs of his career. Then, the Boston Red Sox slugger threw down the gauntlet.

Informed that his titanic, two-run clout off a Fenway Park light stanchion in the first inning Tuesday against Oakland A’s rookie left-hander Sean Manaea fell short of traveling as far as Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton’s moonshot last week in South Florida, Ramirez’s eyes widened.

“Oh yeah? He got lucky,” Ramirez said, breaking into a big smile. “I’m going to beat that.”

Bet against Ramirez at your own peril. As the Red Sox’s offensive juggernaut rolls on — Tuesday night’s 13-5 rout of the punch-drunk A’s was preceded by a 14-7 pummeling of the visitors in the series opener — Ramirez is finally beginning to heat up. After hitting one home run and slugging .384 through his first 99 at-bats this season, he has three homers and a .750 slugging percentage in his past 24 at-bats.

There was some discrepancy over how far Ramirez’s latest went. ESPN’s Home Run Tracker measured it at 460 feet, but that was 8 feet shorter than the estimate by StatCast, which indicated an exit velocity of 113.6 mph. By any measure, it was the longest ball Ramirez has hit with the Red Sox and the longest non-Coors Field homer of his career (he hit a 476-footer in 2008 and a 472-footer in 2014, both in the high altitude of Denver, according to Home Run Tracker).

On this point, though, everyone can agree: Ramirez absolutely crushed Manaea’s juicy first-pitch fastball.

Feeling good about his swing, Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez is letting it fly at the plate and driving balls a long, long way. Charles …

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