 Ramírez was traded to the Kansas City Royals on March 26 , 2008 , for a player to be named later ( Jorge de la Rosa ) . He posted a 0 @.@ 66 ERA through his first 13 games with the Royals , but his ERA rose to 3 @.@ 49 after he posted a 6 @.@ 14 ERA in his next 13 games . Over his final 45 games , he had a 2 @.@ 08 ERA . On June 25 , in a 7 – 3 victory over Colorado ( his former team ) , Ramírez threw two pitches behind Yorvit Torrealba of the Rockies . Ramírez said he was not trying to hit Torrealba , and he was not ejected from the game or disciplined , but some of the Rockies players claimed that Ramírez had thrown at Torrealba intentionally . On July 20 , he got his first win since May 21 of the previous year in an 8 – 7 victory over the Chicago White Sox , despite blowing the lead by giving up two runs in 1 1 ⁄ 3 innings . Ten days later , he pitched 1 1 ⁄ 3 scoreless innings and was charged with the win in a 4 – 3 victory over the Oakland Athletics , helping the Royals sweep the Athletics in Oakland for the first time since 1988 . By September , he had replaced Ron Mahay as Joakim Soria 's setup man . He pitched in 71 games for the Royals with a 2 @.@ 64 ERA . On September 4 , in the second game of a doubleheader , Ramírez notched his first career save against the Athletics in a 9 – 6 victory . Ramírez finished the year with a 3 – 2 record , a 2 @.@ 64 ERA , one save , 70 strikeouts , and 71 2 ⁄ 3 innings pitched in 71 games . He was one of three major league pitchers to give up two or fewer home runs in over 70 innings ( along with Roy Corcoran and Jason Grilli ) , and he was one of the American League ( AL ) pitchers to have an ERA under 3 @.@ 00 with at least 70 innings pitched and 70 strikeouts ( along with Francisco Rodríguez and Matt Thornton ) . 
