CLEVELAND -- Playoff Carlos Correa made an early appearance and brought a sneak peek of his towering October legacy to September on Wednesday night.

It still wasn’t enough.

Correa stepped up to the occasion of a game that might as well have had playoff-like importance and tension for these Twins by driving in all four Minnesota runs, including a clutch, go-ahead, two-run single in the 10th inning -- but the depleted bullpen ran out of gas, with Ronny Henriquez and Michael Tonkin allowing three runs in a 5-4, walk-off loss to the Guardians.

The loss trimmed the Twins’ lead over the Tigers for the AL’s final Wild Card berth down to a half-game, thanks to Detroit finishing a sweep of Kansas City on Wednesday night. Another Twins loss on Thursday would formally eliminate them from contention for the AL Central title.

“We've just got to put it behind us,” said Bailey Ober, who struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings. “I know it's happened a few times now, but we can't dwell on what's going on. We have to move on and get ready and play like tomorrow is our last day.”

But they’ve had to do an awful lot of talking about rinsing and coming back better tomorrow after a string of these bad losses, spanning from the noncompetitive blowouts to the bullpen heartbreaks -- and they’re quickly running out of tomorrows to figure things out before the red-hot Tigers fully close the gap.

“The other team fights as well, and they've got a lot of great players over there,” Correa said. “They're going to do everything they can to also come back and you've just got to go out there and forget about this loss. Brand new tomorrow. Try to win tomorrow.”

All the talking about tomorrow serves a team well in a 162-game marathon, but this is now a 10-game sprint, where today is all that matters on any given day. That has translated to some glimpses of promise, of momentum, after some of those previous tough losses -- but they just haven’t fully seizshed it.

Correa did everything he could in a three-hit game, driving in a first-inning run with an RBI fielder's choice, legging out an infield single on his plantar fasciitis-pained right foot for another run in the fifth, then even knocking what could have been a game-winning two-run single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning.

But the Twins simply had no leverage arms left to hold the lead, even after Ober’s seven-inning start, with Louie Varland used for the eighth, Jhoan Duran used for the ninth, and both Griffin Jax and Cole Sands unavailable due to heavy recent usage.

Pushed into action out of necessity, Henriquez entered for the 10th inning and allowed an RBI single to Kyle Manzardo, walked Andrés Giménez and gave up the game-tying knock to Will Brennan. Tonkin relieved and Brayan Rocchio chopped a grounder over the head of first baseman Carlos Santana to walk off for the win and give the Twins another dose of heartbreak.

“We get to the end of the game and we’re going to be down on some days and not have everybody available in the ‘pen and guys were going to [be] put in different spots,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’ve got Ronny out there. We just weren’t able to hold it.”

Correa and Byron Buxton have shown every bit of why the Twins pushed them back without rehab assignments to join the team for the stretch run, as they’ve very much done their part.

Even outside Correa’s three-hit game that extended his hitting streak to 16 games, matching a career-high and the longest by a Twin this season, he had reached base in four of his seven plate appearances since coming off the IL entering Wednesday following his two-month absence for the plantar fasciitis.

“I feel like I'm in a good spot,” Correa said. “Tomorrow, I've got a DH day and we go from there with the athletic trainers and with the buildup and everything.”

Buxton has also looked great, having hit safely in all four games he has played since his return from a monthlong absence due to hip soreness, including a homer, double and two walks, while seemingly running well.

But with Brock Stewart lost for the season and Justin Topa and Chris Paddack still not ready, this is where the bullpen is at.

Can the Twins’ stars still push the team to October? It’s looking like that’s what it will take.