Opportunity ahead for Guards after rare series loss

KANSAS CITY -- The next three weeks are arguably the most vital stretch of the season for the Guardians.

They are in the midst of playing 32 of 35 games against teams with losing records and are 9-5 so far in that stretch. The Guardians dropped a 4-1 decision in the rubber game against the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

“One series loss isn’t going to get us down,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve been playing really good baseball; we played good baseball over this weekend. They’re a really good team over there, too. So we’re going to get back to work tomorrow.

“This is a tough stretch, 13 in a row coming out of the break and a quick trip to Kansas City and back home, but we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

The Guardians return home on Monday for a six-game homestand against the Rockies and the Twins. There are 21 games left in the stretch against mostly sub-.500 clubs, save three games against the Mets from Aug. 4-6.

After that stretch, Cleveland will play five straight series versus teams in the mix for the three AL Wild Card spots. If they can take care of business in the next three weeks against weaker opponents, they could find themselves in a position where they could overtake those teams.

This comes as the Guardians could possibly be getting some help from players getting healthy. Right-hander Shane Bieber continues to progress in his rehab from Tommy John surgery and is expected to return sometime in August.

“Complete your rehab and feel healthy,” Vogt said prior to Sunday’s game about Bieber’s start for Triple-A Columbus, which was canceled due to rain. “We’re not looking for anything in particular, results, nothing like that. What’s most important is that Shane continues his rehab feeling healthy and doing well and is able to throw all the pitches he needs to and then see how he feels the next day and go one day at a time.”

They also could be getting some help in the lineup as outfielder Lane Thomas (right foot plantar fasciitis) is appearing to make his way back in August. Righty Trevor Stephan (right UCL reconstructive surgery) is progressing for an August comeback, as well. Several other Guardians are projected to be back in September.

On Sunday, Cleveland had the bases loaded with nobody out in the first inning but failed to cash in. The Royals plated two runs in the bottom half and changed the momentum.

“It was a tough way to start,” Vogt said. “We got the bases loaded, nobody out, and we weren’t able to push a run across. You just kind of felt like it’s hard to get stuff going after that. We let them off the hook, and it happens, it’s frustrating. And on the flip side, we didn’t shut them down right away in the first. So they kind of got all the momentum.”

Lefty Joey Cantillo went four innings and gave up three runs, three hits and four walks. He struck out four. Gabriel Arias continued his power surge against Kansas City with his seventh homer of the season -- his fourth against the Royals.

“I mean, Gaby -- we all know he’s got that kind of power the other way,” Vogt said. “He plays an unbelievable shortstop, him and [Brayan] Rocchio up the middle, it was so fun to watch them up the middle these three games work together. Seeing Gaby drive the ball like that is really good, and we all know he can hit. Hopefully, this continues a trend.”

The Guardians sit eight games behind the Tigers in the AL Central and three games back in the AL Wild Card.

“Going the same way we’ve been going,” Guardians DH David Fry said. “Just show up everyday prepared to win a game and just move on to the next day regardless of results. … It’s too far out to kind of be looking at that, just keep our head down and try to win every game we can.”