Guardians 'came out flat' in loss to Rays amid Wild Card race

TAMPA -- Often, the first question to Guardians manager Stephen Vogt in his postgame media availability centers on the performance of his starting pitcher that game. That trend played out once more on Thursday, regarding lefty Logan Allen.

Vogt soon changed course from his assessment on Allen’s performance to offer that of his team overall, unprompted.

“I thought we came out flat as a team tonight,” Vogt said.

The Guardians and Rays opened a four-game series at Steinbrenner Field on Thursday that is crucial to both teams’ hopes at making a push for the third American League Wild Card spot. Cleveland lost, 4-2, in a game in which they were no-hit for 5 2/3 innings, and shut out for eight.

The Guardians were kept off the board until José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo hit back-to-back solo homers in the ninth.

Though the Guardians arrived in Tampa around 3 a.m. on Thursday, after traveling from Boston following their 8-1 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night, Vogt’s assessment made clear that was not an explanation for what transpired, even for a young roster that may not be as experience with that type of travel.

“We're going to learn from this,” Vogt continued. “Just because you get in late at night doesn't mean you can't step up and come out guns blazing.”

The Guardians (69-70) fell back under .500 with the loss. They’re 3 1/2 games behind the Mariners (73-67) for the final Wild Card spot, and the Rangers, Royals and Rays are ahead of them in the race.

With just 23 games remaining in the regular season, it’s crunch time for the Guardians. They must deliver a strong stretch to give themselves a shot at reaching the postseason -- certainly given that, after this series, they will host the Royals for three games next week.

Cleveland’s playoff odds stood at 2.7 percent after Thursday’s loss, according to FanGraphs.

“We know we have to win series,” Vogt said pregame Thursday. “As long as we just continue to win series, it's going to allow us to give ourselves a chance to get in there. The beauty is, no one's running away with that final Wild Card spot. We play the teams that we're chasing, so we have the opportunity to go out and play good baseball, like we have been, and see what happens.”

Cleveland fell behind quickly on Thursday, when Allen surrendered an unearned run in the first inning. Shortstop Gabriel Arias made a throwing error on a two-out ground ball hit by Junior Caminero. Caminero scored moments later on a Christopher Morel RBI single.

Rays starter Ryan Pepiot faced one batter over the minimum through three innings; he hit Kyle Manzardo with a pitch in the second. Other than that, Pepiot walked Manzardo in the fourth and C.J. Kayfus in the fifth.

Ramírez recorded the Guardians’ first hit with two outs in the sixth, when he singled off reliever Bryan Baker.

"I wasn't picking up his changeup very well,” said outfielder Daniel Schneemann of Pepiot. “His fastball had some life. He did a good job mixing some good pitches."

Of his 90 pitches, Pepiot threw 54 four-seamers and 18 changeups. He recorded seven whiffs with each offering. Four of his six strikeouts came with his changeup.

"I thought he just pumped fastballs by us,” Vogt said. “We knew he was going to come at us fastball-changeup. He didn't have to use his changeup. He put us away with it, but I thought we got some fastballs to hit and missed them.

“Again, it happens, but we came out flat tonight."

Left fielder Steven Kwan finished 0-for-4, though he recorded an 11-pitch at-bat against Pepiot to open the game. Kwan fouled off six straight pitches before he flied out to center fielder Everson Pereira. All 11 pitches were four-seamers.

It was the second-longest at-bat this season to consist of a single pitch type, behind Zach Neto’s strikeout against the Orioles’ Yennier Cano on May 9. Cano threw 13 pitches, all sinkers.

Ramírez’s at-bats were one silver lining to the loss. He went 2-for-4 with two flyouts to center field. The homer was his first since Aug. 19. Ramírez entered the day hitting .152 with a .511 OPS in 13 games over that span.

“It was a nice way to end the night,” Vogt said. “Obviously, we're frustrated with the loss, and we’ve got to get to work. We’ve got to bring energy tomorrow. We’ve got to be ready to go from pitch No. 1, and that's on all of us. We’ve got to turn the energy up.”