CLEVELAND -- Every player on the Guardians’ roster has been able to wake up for 102 consecutive mornings with the comfort of knowing they had some breathing room in the American League Central.

They’ve known that an off night from the bullpen wouldn’t hurt them. The starting rotation could be shaky from time to time without too much detriment. The lineup could go quiet on a random night and they’d be OK. But suddenly, that comfort is gone.

For the first time since the morning of May 13, Cleveland’s division lead has dwindled to just one game after a 5-3 series-opening loss to Texas on Friday night at Progressive Field. Kansas City defeated Philadelphia to move up in the standings and Minnesota remained two games back with a loss to St. Louis.

This isn’t how the Guardians envisioned their month of August after spending almost all of the season competing for baseball’s best record. Their record is still elite, but their performance has been waning over the last week, dropping six of their last seven games. Cleveland knows it needs to stop the bleeding, and manager Stephen Vogt said that won’t be accomplished by hosting a team meeting.

“I'm constantly talking with these guys individually, small groups, whatever it might be, and that's the normal cadence,” Vogt said. “So I'll know when it's the right time. We're not there yet.”

To prevent the Guardians from reaching the point that a meeting would be necessary, the team desperately needs its All-Stars to carry the offense. Over the last few games, Steven Kwan, José Ramírez and Josh Naylor have been relatively silent.

For Kwan, it’s been longer than a handful of games. He couldn’t have gotten off to a hotter start this season, hitting .389 with 12 doubles, seven homers, 23 RBIs and just 16 strikeouts in his first 50 games. But his next 52 contests have resulted in a .224 average, two doubles, six homers, 13 RBIs and 23 strikeouts.

And it’s noticeable when the Guardians are missing that spark plug at the top of the order.

Ramírez has been the heartbeat of this lineup once again. It’s hard to ask for much more than his second career 30-30 season and the second most RBIs in the Majors (trailing only the scorching-hot Aaron Judge), but this organization knows that when he goes, it goes.

And with Ramírez mired in a 1-for-20 skid, it’s hard to get the lineup going. That’s when more pressure falls on Naylor to try to pick up the slack and he’s now gone 2-for-26.

These ebbs and flows are expected. They’re unavoidable in a marathon of a season. In a perfect world, each of these hitters would fall into skids at different times, but that’s not what the Guardians have been facing.

At the Trade Deadline, Cleveland knew it would be contenders and wanted to boost the offense by acquiring Lane Thomas. The club was confident that his profile fit perfectly with this group. But that move hasn’t panned out just yet.

In 63 at-bats with the Guardians, Thomas has recorded just seven hits (.111 average), punctuated by an 0-for-3 night with a sacrifice fly against the Rangers.

“This kid works tremendously hard,” Vogt said. “He's putting himself into good positions and just isn't getting results right now. And that can be really frustrating, but that's why I continue to say we've got to stay the course.”

With the unpredictability of the starting rotation this year, the Guardians have known that they need to rely on their bats to remain in the win column. So, how do they get back to that?

“You just push through,” Vogt said. “I mean, there's no magic pill, there's no magic formula. … You have to remind yourself every single day, ‘I am one of the best hitters on this planet.’ And the second that you lose that confidence, the other team's going to smell it and this game is going to eat you up because it's too hard to hit.”

The Guardians aren’t hitting the panic button, although teams in their rearview mirror are now closer than they had appeared. Until they see reasons to pivot, the plan for now is to stay the course.

“We're going to come back out on top. We know it,” starter Tanner Bibee said. “It's just when it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Then, it's all going to click and everyone's going to forget about it.”