CLEVELAND, Ohio — Jose Ramirez didn’t get a hit Friday night in the Guardians’ 7-2 loss to Seattle, but he did reach base with a walk in the sixth inning.

That walk shows the fire is still burning during one of the longest stretches of offensive excellence in franchise history.

Manager Stephen Vogt often says Ramirez is the best hitter on the planet. He may be right.

“He is one of the most unbelievable adjusters in the game,” said first-year hitting coach Grant Fink. “A pitch that can start up and end up down, his ability to adjust to it on the fly, he’s one of the most elite hitters in baseball in doing that.

“That’s why he has success off fastballs, off-speed pitches, it doesn’t matter. He has the ability to perceive and adjust more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Perhaps no one in the organization has more of an appreciation for what Ramirez has done, and is doing, than first base coach Sandy Alomar. This is Alomar’s 16th year on Cleveland’s coaching staff. He played 11 years as a catcher with the Indians, winning a Gold Glove, playing in two World Series and going to six All-Star Games.

He is as close to Guardians’ royalty as it gets.

In 1997, Alomar hit in 30 straight games. It is the second longest streak in franchise history next to Nap Lajoie’s 31-game streak.

“What Jose is doing incredible,” said Alomar. “Making contact is huge when you’re going through a streak that long. You have to put the ball in play, and he doesn’t strikeout a lot.

“That’s why a lot of good hitters don’t go through streaks that long because they walk a lot. The strike zone is a lot smaller than when I played, so that makes it easier to walk.”

Alomar’s streak started on May 25, 1997 with a home run off Baltimore’s Mike Johnson. He came into the game hitting .331.

“Realistically, I didn’t know I had a hitting streak until I passed 15 games,” said Alomar. “I was so concerned about calling the game, I knew I was hitting good, but I didn’t know I was at the halfway point to 30.”

Alomar hit .422 (49 for 116) with 14 doubles, two homers and 11 RBI in his streak. Like all streaks, it flirted its own demise several times.

On May 31 in Baltimore, Alomar had a day off while Pat Borders caught. In the ninth inning, manager Mike Hargrove had Alomar pinch-hit for Jim Thome against lefty Randy Myers. Alomar singled to right as the streak, in its infancy, went to six games.

On June 25, Alomar extended the streak to 24 games with a leadoff homer in the second inning against the Twins at Progressive Field. But the game was called after two innings because of rain and the stats didn’t count because it wasn’t an official game. Following an off day, he singled in his first two at-bats at Yankee Stadium to stretch the steak to 24.

“I had to get to 24 twice, so maybe I should be tied with Lajoie at 31,” said Alomar with a smile.

MLB changed the rules for suspended games in 2020. Under the new rules, a suspended game doesn’t have to be an official game for the stats to count.

“Maybe I can talk to Manfred (commissioner Rob Manfred) to see if I can get that changed,” said Alomar with a laugh.

As the streak grew, so did the attention around Alomar.

“It’s not the simplest task,” said Alomar. “It became a media thing. You have people at your locker. If I don’t have to talk to the media for the whole year, I’m fine.

“But after I got to 15 or so games, the media was at my locker every single day. You’re grinding as a catcher, but it was in my head at that point. But it really didn’t matter because I was feeling good.”

Alomar took the 30-game hitting streak into the All-Star Game, which just so happened to be at Progressive Field. In the seventh inning, he came to the plate and hit a two-run game-winning homer in the American League’s 3-1 victory. He was voted the All-Star Game’s MVP in front of his hometown crowd.

The streak ended on July 10, the first game after the All-Star break. Alomar went 0 for 4 at the Metrodome against the Twins.

“I remember Greg Swindell was pitching for the Twins,” said Alomar. “I was 0 for 3 and he knew I needed a hit. He was just joking around, but he motioned like, ‘OK, here you go.’ And I popped it up.

“When you go that far, you’re disappointed. But you just start a new one the next day.”

Ramirez’s 21-game hitting streak ended on May 30 against the Angels. He took an 0 for 3, but drew a walk. The next day he homered and singled against the Angels to start an 11-game hitting streak.

The 11-game streak ended Friday night at T-Mobile Field. So who’s going bet that Ramirez won’t start a new Saturday night?