The Cleveland Guardians couldn’t score a single run against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.
In what seemed to be a throwback performance from the latter days of the Terry Francona era, the Guardians could only get four runners on base against Reds starter Andrew Abbott.
The Guardians have now gone 5-10 in their last 15 games, which is their worst 15-game stretch of the season.
They’re now sitting in third place in the American League Central Division, and they’re on the outside looking in on the Wild Card race.
Nevertheless, when asked about the team’s recent struggles, manager Stephen Vogt claimed that they were playing a good brand of baseball; they’re just not winning games.
“We see flashes of us being a really good team,” Vogt said before the loss. “We’re just not winning games. I don’t think we’re playing bad baseball. I just think we’re not reaching our full potential. And we’re going to get there. We’re going to get there. It’s a matter of time.”
Actually, winning games is the most important thing, even if you’re not playing well.
Entering Tuesday’s loss, the Guardians had averaged a mere 3.47 runs per game, which is tied for the third-lowest mark in all of baseball.
They’re also in the bottom third in batting average (21st, .236), OPS (21st, .671), on-base percentage (17th, .310), and slugging percentage (25th, .362).
They also have the seventh-worst strikeout rate (25.1) in the league, and they’ve gotten little to no production from their outfielders.
It’s still way too early to sound off the alarms, and we’ve seen what this team is capable of when they’re at their best, as they showed for most of May.
But the gap between them and the top of the division keeps getting wider and wider, and something will have to change before it’s too late to get back on track.
NEXT: Insider Reveals A Big Concern About Guardians' Roster This Season
