This Is How Cleveland Guardians Will Break Out Of Slide

Austin Hedges offers his perspective on how the Cleveland Guardians can get back on track.

Jul 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt (12) walks back to the dugout after relieving relief pitcher Pedro Avila (not pictured) during the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The entire Cleveland Guardians lineup is in a slump right now. There’s no other way to put it. 

They’ve lost 14 out of their last 22 games and have scored two runs or less in the last six of their last eight games. 

The question on everyone’s mind is, how do the Guardians break out of this slide?

Jun 26, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Cleveland Guardians catcher Austin Hedges (27) looks on before the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Guardians at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports / Reggie Hildred-USA TODAY Sports

Veteran leader and heart and soul of the team, Austin Hedges, offered his perspective on what the team needs to do to get back on track following their loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.

“It’s at the point of the season where motivation is no longer a thing. You come into the season, it’s easy to be motivated, but you can’t rely on motivation. You’ve got to rely on discipline and doing the boring stuff. We did a really good job of riding out some momentum and doing some discipline things, and right now, we have a young group that is responding to being such a good team … "

“It’s now our job to remember that it’s allowed to be boring. We’re allowed to do the same thing every day. There’s not this crazy recipe to change things to start winning ball games. There’s not a secret recipe to have a game plan to go beat somebody offensively. You go face a pitcher, and you have a plan. But when nine guys have a plan and do good together, it’s really hard to beat us.”

With all that being said, how do the Guardians get back to playing the baseball that they did at the start of the season?

“Now, we’ve got to lean on discipline a little bit and be like, ‘I don’t need to be that guy. I need to execute my plan in the box. When I’m pitching, I need to execute my pitches.’ And that is it. When you execute your pitches on the mound, execute your plan in the box, play fundamental defense, you run the bases, you tend to win some ball. It’s really simple. That doesn’t make it easy, but it’s not complicated. We’ve just got to get back to doing that.”