At one point in time, a stretch of 15 consecutive division games seemed like a ripe opportunity for the Twins to gain ground on a pair of teams — the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians — whom they were trailing in the standings.

Play well in those games, and they’d have a good chance in the final two weeks of the season.

That stretch has come and gone, and with it, so have almost all the Twins’ playoff hopes, which were slim to begin with after a road trip to California in which they lost five of six games.

The Twins lost nine of those 15 games, finishing with a 9-2 loss to the Guardians. That places them 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland, which currently holds the third wild card with just 13 games left to play.

“It doesn’t feel like we’re far, but we’re far enough where we’re not in the conversation,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “It’s easy to sit here and look at the stretch we went through understanding going into that stretch how important that 2 1/2 weeks were. And then to come out and win, what, (six) games? That’s not the job we had to do, and here we are.”

The Twins (70-79) lost four of the five series against American League Central foes, dropping the rubber match Sunday in a game where Joe Ryan was not at his sharpest. The starting pitcher, in his second start since returning from the injured list, allowed four runs on seven hits, walked a batter and hit one in his four innings.

Steven Kwan began the game with a solo home run, the beginning of an outing where things didn’t come easy for Ryan. He allowed a second home run in the third inning to Jo Adell and two more runs in the fourth inning before his departure.

“I think battle is probably the best way to put it,” Ryan said. “Just kind of long at-bats, throwing the ball for the most part in spots where we wanted to throw it. They were just kind of beating me to it there. It’s frustrating when it’s a day like that.”

The Twins’ offense, meanwhile, did little off starter Tanner Bibee and the bullpen of the Guardians (76-74).

The Twins scored one run in the third inning, making it a 2-1 game with Luke Keaschall scoring on Kody Clemens’ opposite-field double to left. Trevor Larnach brought home the only other run off Bibee in his 6 2/3 innings of work with his 13th home run of the season.

“We’ve put ourselves multiple times in a chance to win a series, and we have not been able to complete it for one reason or another. And that’s definitely frustrating,” manager Derek Shelton said.

Also in the loss, first baseman Royce Lewis left early with left shoulder soreness, stemming from a play in the top of the fourth when he fielded a ball and dove towards the bag for the final out of the inning. Shelton said he also felt something in his shoulder in his at-bat after that. The Twins are currently considering him day-to-day and they will see how he is feeling on Monday, Shelton said.