Aramis shows up swinging in late spring start

PHOENIX -- Aramis Ramirez stepped to the plate for the first time this spring looking for a strike, and Royals left-hander John Lamb obliged.

Ramirez ripped the first pitch of his season for a three-run double on Saturday, and he finished 2-for-2 with a walk in his first game since his surgery to remove a benign polyp from his colon.

"I wanted to get that first hit out of the way, right away," Ramirez said. "I was hoping for a strike, and he did throw me a strike, and I put a pretty good swing on it."

Said manager Ron Roenicke with a smile: "It's not that easy."

Ramirez's afternoon in the field was uneventful, but he was busy at the plate. His double off Lamb to the left-field corner in the first inning cleared the bases, and Ramirez walked in the second inning as the Brewers cobbled together an insurance run. After he singled in the fourth inning, Ramirez exited the game in favor of a pinch-runner. The Brewers went on to win, 7-6, with two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Ramirez called it a successful debut.

"It's been a while since the last time I played in a baseball game, so it was a little weird in the beginning," he said. "But I got the first one out of the way now. I was hoping to get some ground balls and see how I move out there, but we've got plenty of time."

Ramirez expected to take Sunday off before playing Monday against the White Sox. The Brewers are off Tuesday, so he could play Wednesday against the Angels before conferring with the team's medical staff to set a schedule moving forward.