'These stretches come': Guards struggling to cash in on scoring chances

SAN DIEGO -- Steven Kwan stepped up to the plate in the top of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and the Guardians trailing the Padres 4-0 -- and with two outs -- it was the perfect opportunity to flip not just the game, but the momentum of the series, with one swing of the bat.

Kwan struck out, whiffing on an 84.8 mph slider from Jason Adam that was just inside.

Missed opportunities -- failing to capitalize with runners on, namely -- have been the Guards’ downfall not just in Tuesday’s 7-0 loss, but in Monday’s as well. Over the first two games at Petco Park, Cleveland is 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and has stranded 13 men. And if you take Sunday’s 6-2 win at Kansas City into account, they’re 0-for-16 with RISP and have left 22 runners on.

“These stretches come,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of his team’s struggles at the plate. “We're facing a really good team right now, and we know we have our work cut out for us.”

And while the Guardians are having a rough spell at the plate, it’s important to look at why: Runs against the Padres are hard to come by. Their bullpen has pitched 24 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the fifth inning on Opening Day. They’re the only team in the Majors this season to not yet allow a run in the sixth or later.

Simply put: if you don’t score on their starters, you’re likely not scoring at all. And that in itself is tough to do.

“They have a bunch of different looks, a bunch of different pitches,” Vogt said of the Padres’ pitching staff. “Lefties. Righties. Their lefties are better against righties than they are against lefties, and they're still very tough on lefties, and same with their righties.

“… So you have to get to their starters, and their starters are really good. So we got our work cut out for us. We've known that.”

And when you get guys on base with nothing to show for it, like the Guardians have, baseball has a way of making you pay for it.

Case in point: The bottom of the seventh -- right after Kwan struck out to retire the top half -- the Padres tacked on two more runs thanks to their aggressiveness on the basepaths. All of a sudden, the game got away from Cleveland.

But it’s also important to realize another thing: This was just the fifth game of the season. The sky isn’t falling.

“I think you need to take one day at a time,” catcher Bo Naylor said. “But at the same time, kind of understand that it's a long season. There's a lot of games to be played. We're gonna be seeing a lot of different types of aces. So it's just taking the things that we can, learn from it, going out with the best plan, and trying to execute as best we can.”

One promising stat for the Guardians: In 2024, they were the 22nd-ranked team in the Major Leagues by pitches per plate appearance, averaging 3.83. Entering Tuesday, they averaged 4.07 pitches per plate appearance this season -- the seventh-best among all 30 teams.

It’s a very small sample, granted, but it shows that they’ve been taking good at-bats even up against top-tier arms.

Baseball is a game of averages, 162 games is a long period of time. The Guardians will be just fine offensively, probably. And while they’re right about taking things one game at a time, Vogt knows how important runners in scoring position are. He said as much during his pregame media availability on Tuesday.

“I think the best teams in the world smell blood, and then they don't stop,” he said. “We've been that team a lot. We’ve had it done to us sometimes. So, it's just a matter of continuing to focus and work on the things we can control.”