The Guardians just had their worst series of the year at the worst possible time

On Sunday, Steven Kwan got booed in Cleveland for what might be the first time in his Clevleend Guardians tenure. 

After dropping the first two games of their series against the Braves, the Guardians offense had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the eighth inning when reliever Pierce Johnson walked Nolan Jones and Angel Martínez ahead of Kwan. 

But, instead of putting together the kind of pesky, multi-pitch at-bat that he’s known for, Kwan tried to bunt the first pitch of the at-bat. 

The key word is “tried.” 

While Kwan got the bunt down, it hit off the top of his bat which led to a harmless pop up that Nacho Alvarez corralled in foul territory, which brought a fair smattering of boos down from the fans at Progressive Field. 

Those boos got even louder an inning later when Jones struck out swinging to end the ninth inning. 

After fighting hard to work their way back into the postseason picture over the last month, last weekend’s series against the Braves featured “Guards Ball” at its worst. 

The Guardians just put together one of their worst series of the year

The worst part about Sunday’s loss is that the Guardians had a chance. They jumped all over Atlanta starter Erick Fedde for four early runs, and seemed destined to enter the middle innings with a 4-1 lead. But things began to unravel in the fifth inning when Martínez uncorked a wild throw to first base with two outs that led to the Braves scoring another run. 

While most of Martínez’s problems in the field have come in the outfield, it was another reminder that he’s a subpar fielder regardless of position. 

That error opened up the floodgates that ended when Jurickson Profar mashed a go-ahead home run off Nic Enright. 

That rough showing capped off a frustrating weekend at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. On Friday, Hurston Waldrep stymied Cleveland’s offense for six innings before Atlanta’s bullpen took over. A day later the Braves jumped all over Slade Cecconi and mashed their way to a 10-1 win. 

While the Braves are better than your average team that’s 10 games under .500, the Guardians have spent the better part of the month proving they have what it takes to win. They didn’t do that this weekend. 

That rough weekend has cost the Guardians three games in the Wild Card race, as they now sit 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the Wild Card standings and 8 1/2 games behind the Tigers in the American League Central. 

They still have plenty of games left against teams ahead of them in the standings, but that may not matter if they keep playing like how they did over the weekend.

They'll get their first crack to get back in the win column later tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who, like the Braves, are a bit better than their record. The Guardians will need to take at least two out of three if they want a chance to make the postseason.