CLEVELAND -- The Guardians can feel the cool air that has begun to infiltrate Cleveland each night at the ballpark -- one that is a subtle reminder that October is around the corner. In other words, they know they have reached crunch time in their regular-season slate.
But while they fight to keep their postseason dreams alive, they aim to maintain a mindset they have tried to carry all season.
“We know everybody's got the countdown,” manager Stephen Vogt said Wednesday afternoon. “We know where we are on the calendar, but that doesn't change our mindset. We're going to go out and play like we did in April, in May, and we're going to take it one game at a time.”
Cleveland will look to move on quickly from Wednesday, which marked a setback in its push for the playoffs. The Guardians lost, 4-3, to the Royals at Progressive Field, as they saw their season-high-tying five-game winning streak end.
The Guardians dropped to 74-71, 3 1/2 games behind the Mariners (78-68) for the final American League Wild Card spot. Vogt’s club also trails the Rangers (77-70) in the race, and the Royals (74-71) are a half-game behind them.
Every game matters over the course of a 162-game season, but it’s no secret the intensity kicks up a notch -- or a few -- once September arrives. That’s certainly true for Cleveland. Given the number of games remaining (17) and where they sit in the postseason picture, the Guardians don’t have much, if any, margin for error right now.
At the conclusion of their game Wednesday night, Cleveland’s playoff odds stood at 5.1 percent, according to FanGraphs.
“We know what's in front of us,” starter Logan Allen said. “We know what we're playing for. Obviously, the losses hurt a little bit, but we're right back to it tomorrow. We’ve got an opportunity to win the series and gain some more ground, so that's what we're trying to do.”
Allen delivered a solid outing on Wednesday, in which he was charged with two runs on seven hits over five innings. He was a victim of some tough fortune; the Royals scored once in the first inning on three singles, two of which stayed in the infield.
Leadoff man Maikel Garcia started the rally with a grounder that shortstop Brayan Rocchio played on the second hop. He double clutched his throw while trying to find his grip, and it skipped past first baseman Kyle Manzardo. Allen ultimately threw 29 of his 86 pitches in the first.
“Logan threw the ball well,” Vogt said. “They got his pitch count up there in the first. It just seems like there's always something with Logan when he goes out there, [where] we have some sort of play that extends his inning. But I thought he made pitches when he needed to.”
Allen held the Royals to an average exit velocity of 83.5 mph, his third-best mark in an outing this season.
Manzardo hit a two-run homer off opener Jonathan Bowlan in the bottom of the first, but the Guardians struggled to get much going as the Royals pitched a bullpen game. Cleveland held a 3-2 lead in the seventh before Kansas City capitalized on defensive mistakes.
Tim Herrin entered in the seventh to face the bottom of the order, but he issued a one-out walk to Jac Caglianone. Pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert stole second, and pinch-hitter Nick Loftin hit a game-tying RBI single. Steven Kwan’s throw home off target to the right of catcher Bo Naylor.
Naylor then tried to throw out Loftin as he advanced to second, and his throw sailed into center field.
“It looked like [Naylor] didn't quite get through it,” Vogt said. “Threw it a little bit off his back foot. We made two offline throws on that play.”
The Guardians had fellow lefty Erik Sabrowski available to face Caglianone, and Vogt (when asked about the decision-making process between the two lefties) noted that that was Herrin’s “pocket” of the Royals’ lineup. Sabrowski later pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Wednesday was one game and one loss. But the Guardians know what is at stake.
“It’s about preserving the calm,” Rocchio said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “We feel it's kind of like playoff baseball at this point. You’ve got to focus on winning every single game. It's difficult when you lose, but also it gets you a little more confidence when you keep winning.
“So for us, it's bouncing back, staying calm and trying to do the best for the next game.”