Guardians notes: Manager Stephen Vogt refrains from calling team meeting with team in a rut

CLEVELAND — With his team in one of its worst ruts of the season, manager Stephen Vogt still wasn't compelled to call a team meeting after a disappointing 7-4 loss to the Reds at Progressive Field on Monday night. It was the Guardians' fifth loss in seven games, leaving them eight games behind the first-place Tigers in the Central Division standings. "We rarely have team meetings," Vogt said prior to Tuesday's game against Cincinnati. "These guys are pros. They know what they're doing. We just need to play better, plain and simple. "We see flashes of us being a really good team. 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." Offensive consistency has been a major problem for Cleveland, which had scored three runs or fewer in four of its last seven games through Monday. "When you're going through a tough stretch where you're having trouble winning games, you want to step up and get two hits for your team every time you go up there," Vogt said. "We just need to relax, stay the course and go play. "We're still trying to find our identity, offensively. We haven't really caught fire and gone. It's kind of been treading water. But we have some guys that are having some very good years. It's just finding ways to get those innings when you get things going, to get that big hit." Doctor's office According to Vogt, backup catcher and clubhouse leader Austin Hedges is on schedule to leave the seven-day concussion list Thursday. "He's doing really, really well," Vogt said. "He's doing baseball activities. He's progressing and trending really well." Hedges sustained the fifth concussion of his career on Jazz Chisholm's backswing at Yankee Stadium on June 4. Yes way, Jose Jose Ramirez entered Tuesday on a career-high 35-game streak of reaching base — the longest in the American League this year and second-longest in the majors to Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber (41). "He's just being Hosey, honestly," Vogt said. "He's been taking his walks. I think that's one of the biggest things. He can hit any pitch at any time when it leaves a pitcher's hand. He's that good. But he knows when it's time to take a walk. He knows when it's time to take a single, and then you make a mistake and he's ready for it. "He's just one of the best hitters, and he's been rolling now for over a month. When you're one of the best five hitters on the planet, you can hit any pitch that's thrown at you. And to me, that's Hosey." Ramirez entered Tuesday ranked third in the majors behind the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (147) and Elly De La Cruz (123) with a combined 111 homers and stolen bases since the start of 2024. He was leading the majors with a .410 (34-for-83) interleague batting average in 22 games through Monday. Sibling sluggers The home run race in on between the Naylor brothers. Bo entered Tuesday on top with nine, while Josh was at eight. "I heard about it. I heard there was some smack talking coming from Cleveland, for sure, and then Josh hit a (walk-off) grand slam (Monday), so he heard it," Vogt joked. Though he is batting only .196 in 50 games through Monday, Bo caught fire over his last two games, going 5-for-7 with two homers and three RBIs. He entered Tuesday batting .300 (6-for-20) with six walks in seven June games. "He made an adjustment, which has allowed him to be shorter and through the zone longer," Vogt said. "We all know how good of a hitter Bo is. We've seen it for stretches. I think where he and (hitting coach Grant) Fink and the hitting team have gotten him to at this point, it's going to allow for him to be more consistent." Roundin' third Reliever Cade Smith had not allowed a homer in his last 71 1/3 innings, dating back to June 24 of last year. It was the longest homerless streak in the majors through Monday. Of the Guardians' 67 homers through Monday, 45 (67.2 percent) have been solo shots, accounting for the third-highest rate in the majors. Kyle Manzardo was out of the lineup for the sixth time in eight games. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.