MINNEAPOLIS -- When it mattered most, the injury-depleted Twins simply didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Guardians in their most important test of the season -- a fact that became quite apparent in the seventh inning on Sunday, when, in arguably the most pivotal at-bat of the game with the tying run at third, their best option off the bench was 26-year-old rookie Jermaine Palacios, a utility prospect appearing in his 13th MLB game.

As they’ve done too often of late, the Twins came up empty that inning -- and they came up empty in their biggest series of the year, falling 4-1 to the Guardians on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep at Target Field at the hands of the club that the Twins had hoped to catch in the standings in front of their home crowd.

Instead, the Twins fell even further into third place in the division. They now sit 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland, and two games behind the second-place White Sox. With Minnesota’s record falling to 69-70, the Twins are below .500 for the first time since they were 7-8 on April 23.

“I would say as disappointing as that is, there’s still games to be played here, and there’s still games against this team,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “One thing we’re not going to do is dig a hole and sit here and bury ourselves and say this thing is over. This thing is not over. It’s not close to over.”

With five games remaining against the Guardians and six left against the White Sox, there’s technically still time for the Twins to close the gap in the 23 games they have remaining this season. But they no longer have anywhere near as much control over their own destiny as they did entering this weekend. Aside from the pair of ninth-inning comeback attempts, the injury-ridden Twins offense didn’t offer much resistance against the talented Guardians pitching staff.

Considering the offense was already missing Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Trevor Larnach, Royce Lewis, Ryan Jeffers and Miguel Sanó and lost Max Kepler again on Sunday after he fouled a ball off his right leg, the Twins are putting out a very top-heavy lineup in the most important stretch of their schedule.

For example, the bottom four lineup spots in Friday’s series opener -- initially Gary Sánchez, Jake Cave, Gilberto Celestino and Sandy León -- combined to go 2-for-16 with seven strikeouts, squashing rallies in meaningful situations. And that’s the kind of situation the Twins once again saw in Sunday’s seventh inning, when Gio Urshela and Nick Gordon led off the frame with back-to-back singles, putting runners on the corners with the Twins down, 2-1.

But Kyle Garlick, normally an option against lefties only, popped out against Guardians starter Shane Bieber before Cleveland brought in lefty Sam Hentges, necessitating a call for a right-handed pinch-hitter to replace Cave. The Twins chose Palacios over Caleb Hamilton and Billy Hamilton -- and that ended in a lineout to the second baseman. A three-pitch strikeout by Sánchez ended the threat, and the Guardians added two more in the ninth to pull away.

“I absolutely think we have the pieces to get this done,” Baldelli said. “We’ve lost some games this week because we didn’t execute, we didn’t play up to our abilities. Not because I think we don’t have the pieces. We have to simply elevate, each and every one of us has to elevate right now, and go play above where we’ve been this past week.”

This will put all the more pressure on the Twins next weekend, when they play five games in four days against the Guardians at Progressive Field to complete the head-to-head docket between the teams this season. Polanco will likely be back by then -- but that might be it unless Buxton’s condition improves quickly, so Baldelli’s confidence in his existing offensive group will be tested.

Aside from those five and the six against the White Sox, the Twins’ other 12 remaining games come against the Royals, Angels and Tigers, all sub-.500 teams. But their margin for error, to the extent that it existed, is now gone.

"It's not easy,” Luis Arraez said. “Not anything is easy. We just need to work hard and play baseball. That's what I say every time. We just need to enjoy the game. This is not easy. Cleveland has a good team. But we've got a special team, too. We can do a lot of things.”