Guardians' offense continues to struggle as it awaits the return of J-Ram

MINNEAPOLIS -- The past three weeks have shown us what life is like for the Guardians without José Ramírez. Cleveland has played many close games during this extended stretch without its superstar, who is continuing his recovery from left hamate surgery.

The Guardians entered Tuesday 8-11 since Ramírez went on the IL on June 14. In wins over that stretch, they have often done just enough offensively to come out on top. Many of the losses have followed a familiar script littered with struggles at the plate.

That includes Tuesday, when the Guardians lost, 3-1, to the Twins in the opener of an increasingly important three-game series at Target Field. The Guardians struck out 10 times against starter Taj Bradley, who surrendered just three hits, which included a Rhys Hoskins solo home run.

Meanwhile, Guardians starter Joey Cantillo was charged with two unearned runs in the second, amid a host of defensive mishaps that loomed large.

“He had his ‘A’ stuff tonight, but we need to keep working,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of Bradley. “We need to get better. We need to have better at-bats and string things together.”

That’s the overarching message right now. Losing Ramírez has undoubtedly hurt, but the Guardians’ lineup full of young guys has struggled for stretches in his absence. Cleveland has scored four or fewer runs in 14 of its 20 games since Ramírez went down.

Tuesday’s struggles included the Guardians logging a 71 percent whiff rate against Bradley’s cutter (17 whiffs on 24 swings, the highest number of whiffs on a cutter in a single game since April 19, 2023). His four-seamer averaged 97.6 mph and maxed out at 99.6 mph. As Hoskins noted, you have to be ready for Bradley’s heater given its plus velocity, but that left the Guardians susceptible to Bradley’s cutter and offspeed stuff.

“He tunneled well with his fastball,” Hoskins said. “He threw some down, and I think that got us to chase down and away on him. He just executed pitches. We probably could have been more stubborn. That's hard to do when you're not scoring runs too.”

In other words, the Guardians can be better about not forcing the issue to swing their way out of their struggles, but instead passing the baton to the next guy.

Cleveland went 18-11 in May, when it ranked 10th in the Majors in runs scored (126) and second in walks (123). The Guardians have gone 13-18 since the start of June while being tied with the Blue Jays for the fewest runs scored (113). They’re tied for 21st in MLB in walks (92) over that span.

“We've already shown this year that we can be stubborn and just pass our at-bat to the next guy and walk to first base,” Hoskins said. “But again, we're talking human nature here, and we’ve struggled a little bit offensively.

“Sometimes I think as hitters, we just try to swing our way out of it, and that's not always the best way to go.”

The struggles at the plate have given the Guardians no margin for error. It’s why the second inning was so pronounced Tuesday. Cantillo essentially had to get six outs due to the defensive shortcomings.

Travis Bazzana made an error to open the inning when he booted a Kody Clemens ground ball. Cantillo responded by getting Ryan Kreidler to hit a grounder to shortstop Brayan Rocchio, but Kreidler reached first on a fielder’s choice. Rocchio charged in and tried to throw back across his body for a forceout at second. The toss was low and late.

Luke Keaschall then reached on an infield single; Kyle Manzardo fielded his chopper, looked to throw to second, but was caught in a spot where he had no lane. His toss to Cantillo, who went to cover first, was late.

Austin Martin's sac fly tied the game. Brooks Lee’s RBI single gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.

“We need to get back to our fundamentals, and we're going to do that,” Vogt said.

Cantillo threw 28 pitches in the second, and he bore down to make it through five innings while allowing just the two unearned runs on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. His determination wasn’t enough.

The Guardians are hopeful to get Ramírez and Angel Martínez (non-displaced left foot fracture) back from the injured list after the All-Star break. Until then, they must keep treading water, both against a division rival and an upstart Marlins team this weekend.

“We've done a great job up to this point of grinding every day, finding ways to win. That's no different this week,” Vogt said pregame Tuesday. “[We have] two very difficult series left before the break and we need to be at our best. So we're going to work, and we're going to be prepared.”