CLEVELAND -- As much as the Guardians enjoyed the chance to reset during the All-Star break this week, manager Stephen Vogt noted Friday they were ready to get back to work and for the second act of their 2026 season to begin.
Cleveland might be wishing it had a mulligan right now.
The Guardians dropped their first series out of the break following a 7-1 loss to the Pirates on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series at Progressive Field. Without a walk-off home run by Travis Bazzana on Saturday night, Cleveland might have been staring a sweep in the face on Sunday.
The three-game set was a poor showing offensively for the Guardians, who scored one run over the first 16 innings of a split doubleheader on Saturday before a late five-run outburst. Their issues peaked on Sunday. Cleveland had nine baserunners, but five were thrown out on the basepaths.
For a team that entered the day ranked 29th in the Majors in runs per game (3.95), that can’t happen, especially when you’re facing Paul Skenes.
“I don't know if I would [say] sloppy effort,” Vogt said when directly posed with that notion. “Sloppy execution. We made some big mistakes. Part of playing in the big leagues is understanding what the situation of the game is, and that's our job as coaches, is to teach. We need to step up and be better.”
The Guardians are naturally going to make some mistakes with an active roster that has seven rookies. But Sunday’s problems were widespread on the service-time chart.
Steven Kwan got the Guardians on the board with a safety squeeze RBI bunt single in the third, during which Petey Halpin advanced to third on a throwing error by Pirates catcher Henry Davis. Kwan was then thrown out trying to steal second, before Bazzana struck out to end the inning.
Chase DeLauter was thrown out by center fielder Billy Cook on Kyle Manzardo’s potential go-ahead sac fly in the fourth. DeLauter did not slide, nor did Patrick Bailey when he was thrown out at home immediately before Bazzana’s walk-off home run Saturday night.
“We had a miscommunication there,” Vogt said of DeLauter’s moment. “We weren't there to tell him to get down and slide. [Davis] had a really good deke. We've talked about it a few times now. We need to slide when we're trying to score.”
The strangest moment came in the fifth. Davis tried to pick off Gabriel Arias at second base. Arias advanced to third safely when the throw trickled into the outfield, but he was ultimately ruled out. Arias initially returned to second base on Davis’ throw, but he stepped off of it on the first-base side. He needed to touch the base before advancing to third and did not.
“I know it's a rule of the game,” Arias said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “You have to follow those rules. It just happened.”
Kwan was also thrown out at second in the sixth, when he tried to stretch a single into a double with no outs and the Guardians trailing, 5-1. That score remained in the seventh, when Skenes picked Kahlil Watson off of second. The Guardians challenged the call, which stood.
Pushing the envelope on the bases has been synonymous with the Guardians in recent seasons. They entered Sunday ranked last in the Majors in slugging percentage (.369), as part of their overall offensive struggles. Taking extra bases when they can is part of their effort to push runs across.
The balance is you have to execute when you take those chances, and you must take them in spots that make sense situationally. There were mistakes on both fronts on Sunday.
“We trust our guys to be aggressive,” Vogt said. “I thought we were overaggressive a couple times today. Again, it's conversation points. It's learning points for our guys, and we're going to get better from it.”
Through 100 games this season, the Guardians are 52-48 and second in the AL Central, behind the White Sox (52-46). Cleveland has stayed afloat without José Ramírez (left hamate surgery) and Angel Martínez (non-displaced left foot fracture), both of whom could be back in their lineup in the near future.
Until then, Cleveland’s margin for error figures to remain thin given its offensive struggles. The last thing this club can afford is to beat itself with mistakes, from rookies or otherwise.
“We're a young team and we're going to make mistakes,” Vogt said. “We've talked about this all year, it feels like. We want to make new mistakes. That's where, again, myself, our coaches, we need to step up and teach more, and we need to get our players better.”