CLEVELAND -- In what has been a nightmarish start to the season for Tony Kemp, the past week has provided the second baseman hope that his long-awaited turnaround is finally here.

Kemp supplied all of the A’s run support in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Guardians in 10 innings at Progressive Field. The 2-for-4 performance included his first home run since April 21 -- a solo shot to right in the seventh off Aaron Civale.

Extending his hitting streak to five games, a stretch in which he’s gone 6-for-12, Kemp knows better than to declare himself fully back on track. He’s still batting just .172 in a 2023 campaign that has seen him endure separate career-worst hitless streaks of 0-for-23 and 0-for-24. His recent streak, however, is reason for some optimism.

“I’m just taking baby steps,” Kemp said. “One pitch at a time. Working in the cage and, honestly, just trusting the process. I’m just trying to put the bat on the ball. Not really trying to hit home runs or anything. Just trying to have quality at-bats and anything I can do to help the team win.”

At his best, Kemp brings the ability to help the team in a multitude of ways. That was on full display Tuesday, as he also provided spectacular defense in the eighth by venturing into shallow right field to make an incredible over-the-shoulder running catch to take away a hit from Will Brennan.

“That’s tough,” Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez said of Kemp’s play. “It’s one of those plays that you can’t go practice. It just happens in the game. It was a great play. As a second baseman, I can tell you it’s really, really tough, especially because the center fielder is coming forward. Good play for him.”

From engulfing himself in the hitting cage to outright superstitions such as shaving his face clean in an attempt to cleanse himself from a season-long funk, Kemp has tried anything and everything in his search to get it going at the plate.

There are some mechanical adjustments Kemp said he has discovered, though he would prefer not to go into too much detail about them.

“Just some adjustments here and there,” Kemp said. “I think it’s just about pitch selection. Just swing at good pitches that are in the zone and give myself the best chance I can at putting the ball in play and finding a barrel. … Hitting is hard. It’s a long season. You can’t really look at the numbers every day of what you’re doing. You have to take it a day at a time. Start at zero each day and go from there.”

Last season, Kemp went through what he called the “worst first half” of his career, entering the All-Star break hitting .203 over 85 games. That was followed by arguably his best-ever second half, batting .278 with five home runs and 32 RBIs in 62 games after the break.

At one point, Kemp’s struggles this season reached a point where A’s manager Mark Kotsay kept him on the bench for nearly an entire week earlier this month. Since then, Kemp has responded in an encouraging fashion.

“Tony’s taken some good at-bats in this stretch,” Kotsay said. “It’s been a process for [him]. Getting him back into that lineup and having him contribute is going to lead to more success for this club. It’s great to see for Tony that he continues to grind and work on his swing. He’s seeing some results right now.”

Despite a much-improved performance by A’s pitchers over the past couple of weeks, the results are not showing up in the form of wins.

Although Oakland’s 2.90 team ERA over their past 13 games ranks second-lowest among Major League pitching staffs behind only the Rays over that stretch, the A’s dropped their sixth consecutive game. On Tuesday, six different pitchers combined to hold Cleveland to three runs (two earned) in nine-plus innings.

“Our pitching has kept us in games through this stretch,” Kotsay said. “No wins to show for it, which is tough. We’re going to continue to grind and compete and fight. Hopefully, things turn tomorrow.”