Guardians notes: Lack of offense at root of Cleveland's losing ways

CLEVELAND — It's no secret what's been dragging down the Guardians recently. "We just haven't played well offensively," said manager Stephen Vogt, whose team entered Tuesday on the heels of three straight shutout losses while riding a 28-inning scoreless streak. "The last few games, our at-bat quality has not been great, a lot of weak contact, a lot of chase, so we just have to get back to being us. Wait for your pitch over the plate, be ready to hit it, take what the pitcher gives you and keep the line moving. We need both of those. We need extra-base hits and walks and those have been tough to come by." Cleveland entered Tuesday averaging 1.80 runs while posting a 1-9 record over their last 10 games . "You need a relaxation reminder that this game is fun and it hasn't been fun the last 10, 11 days. We haven't been playing well," Vogt said. "But guys just need to get back to being themselves, laughing, joking around, having fun, and we still have that. It's not like you walk into the room and there's tension, but everybody just needs to take a step back, relax and 'go be yourself.' "You're not trying to go 4-for-3 tonight. You need to go out and just have good at-bats. Pass the baton, play good defense, and we'll turn this around." The frustration of losing boiled over Monday night during a dugout incident between Vogt and starting pitcher Tanner Bibee, though the manager downplayed the confrontation. "I don't believe in one particular incident dictating the mood," he saud. "What happened (Monday) night happened, and we've moved past it and now we get to play another game tonight." Despite trailing the Mariners by six games in the wild card race through Monday, and a little over a month remaining in the regular season, Vogt isn't ready to turn to the focus to next year. "Every day is new. You don't know what's gonna happen today, and that's why we play the game," he said. "There's no rule book that says we can't go out and score 15 runs tonight and we don't lose again for the rest of the year. That's why you show up every day ready to play and give it your best and see what happens." Starting six? Left-hander John Means is close to returning to the mound after his second Tommy John surgery. It would give Vogt the opportunity to employ a six-man rotation. "We're talking about all the different options right now for September, but as far as Means is concerned, he needs to complete his rehab before we can even think about how he implements into our major league rotation," the manager said. "This would be my first experience with a six-man rotation if we did go down that road. We've talked about it, but there's nothing in stone. "It can be really positive, given how young our pitching staff and the amount of innings (it's thrown). It could not be great because now they're pitching seven or eight days with rest. There's pros and cons. We're talking through all the different options that we can use, especially with this 17-game stretch coming up and then seven games in six days right after it. But none of them have grown legs yet." After two outings for Class A Lake County, Means was scheduled to make his third rehab start Tuesday, throwing around 65 pitches for Triple-A Columbus at Louisville. Lane wreck Vogt said outfielder Lane Thomas (right foot plantar fasciitis) continues to progress, but there is still no timetable for his return. He's been on the injured list since May 7. "He's been taking batting practice, and I think he's started to do a lot more running," Vogt said. "He's progressing in his baseball activity." It's been a lost season at a bad time for Thomas, who is in the final year of his contact with Cleveland. He's been limited to 39 games by multiple injuries, batting .160 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Roundin' third Reliever Erik Sabrowski led major league rookies (minimum 20 games) with a 1.47 ERA and .150 opposing batting average through Monday. Of his 20 appearances, 16 were scoreless and he allowed only one of his 10 inherited runners to score. His ERA was the lowest by Cleveland pitcher through his first 20 games since Mike Jeffcoat (0.87) in 1984. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.