Vogt ejected as frustrated Guards' skid hits 7

MINNEAPOLIS -- The vexation of Cleveland’s season-long, seven-game losing streak and four defeats in three days finally boiled over Friday night at Target Field.

“We’ve still got a lot of growing to do,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said after his team’s 6-3 loss to the Twins to seal a doubleheader sweep, “and we’ve got two months to do it.”

Rookie manager Stephen Vogt’s first career ejection after arguing a run-scoring balk call was the encapsulation. But more concerning for the Guardians is their longest losing streak since 2022.

An American League Central lead that once stood at nine is down to 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota. The Guardians dropped the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, 4-2.

After also falling twice against Arizona on Wednesday, Cleveland is now 0-6 in doubleheader games this season. It’s 9-12 since the All-Star break. And its starting rotation has pitched the sixth-fewest innings in Major League Baseball.

That group now features the recently acquired Alex Cobb, who lasted 4 2/3 innings and yielded five runs (four earned) on nine hits with one strikeout. Matt Wallner’s three-run home run in the fifth inning ended Cobb’s first start since Sept. 19, 2023 -- a 325-day span.

“I was hoping to kind of stop the bleeding tonight,” Cobb said. “It had all the makings of being a turnaround game.

“But I've never been a part of a team with as much fight as this team [has].”

Instead, it was a buzzkill 2024 debut for Cobb, the Guardians’ Trade Deadline addition coming off hip surgery and shoulder nerve issues. His mix of splitters and sinkers fooled the Twins at times, but Cobb’s third trip through the order saw them take the lead for good via Wallner’s Statcast-projected 390-foot homer on a 3-0, 94-mph sinker that didn’t quite sink.

In the seventh, Minnesota catcher Christian Vázquez scored from third on a balk by Tim Herrin to make it 6-3. Vogt vehemently disagreed with home-plate umpire Jim Wolf, and their shouting match ended with the 39-year-old skipper being sent to the clubhouse.

“I didn’t see [Herrin] move, but I haven’t seen a replay, so I’m not sure,” Vogt said, before adding with a smile, “I just went out there and talked to Wolfy, then watched the rest of the game on TV.”

Even mild-mannered reliever Herrin let Wolf have it. Vogt stepping in might have kept the 27-year-old, second-year lefty from getting ejected himself.

“I just got frustrated,” Herrin said. “I probably shouldn't have let it out that much. He called it, I can't change it no matter what I say to him, so there's no need to really go after him like that. … I really appreciate Vogt coming out and really defending me and the team.

“We’re not really too concerned about this bad stretch. It’s not ideal. It’s not fun. But tomorrow’s a new day.”

Josh Naylor hit his 26th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the top of the fifth, to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead. He has four homers in his past 10 games.

But Minnesota came roaring back in the bottom of the frame.

With over a month and a half left in the regular season, there’s plenty of time for Cleveland to reestablish command of the AL Central -- starting with two more games here Saturday and Sunday. But it’ll require more reliable starting pitching to take a load off an increasingly taxed bullpen.

“We're not in a bad spot,” Vogt said. “We're in the middle of a stretch where we haven't won in a while, but our guys love each other. We're gonna come back tomorrow ready to go.”

The rotation again includes Joey Cantillo. In Friday’s first game, the rookie left-hander from Honolulu gave up three earned runs on five hits and struck out two in 5 2/3 innings while taking the loss.

Cantillo was recalled Friday morning, less than a week after being sent to Triple-A Columbus. He’d gone 0-1 in two Major League starts with a 7.36 ERA, but Vogt told him to remain prepared.

“When we sent him down Saturday, it was like, ‘Hey, you got a taste,’” Vogt said. “‘You showed us what you can do, now go work on this, this and this, but stay ready.’”

Still, when righty Carlos Carrasco suffered a hip strain in Wednesday’s loss against Arizona, the call back to the big leagues came sooner than expected.

“My job is obviously to put the team in a position to win,” Cantillo said. “That’s shown even more up here, which is the fun part.

“I’ve got to make adjustments faster.”

So do the Guardians.