CLEVELAND, Ohio — In a rare moment of public criticism, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt didn’t mince words following Cleveland’s listless 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. The defeat, which was more lopsided than the final score suggests, highlighted a concerning trend for a team supposedly battling for a wild card spot.

“I thought we came out flat,” Vogt said immediately after the game, shifting the narrative away from Logan Allen’s pitching performance to address his team’s alarming lack of energy. For a club in a playoff chase, it was a damning assessment.

The Guardians arrived in Tampa around 3 a.m. Thursday morning and never seemed to wake up. But veteran reporter Paul Hoynes wasn’t buying travel fatigue as an excuse.

“It’s not like they’re traveling by covered wagon

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