Winning the American League Central Division will not be easy for the Cleveland Guardians.

Coming out of the All-Star break, the first-place Guardians lost Sunday’s game (and the series) to the San Diego Padres by a 2-1 margin.

After a 7-0 win on Friday, the Guardians only scored one run the rest of the weekend, despite having four All-Stars in the starting lineup.

Ben Lively (8-6) had another solid performance for Cleveland, but he couldn’t overcome his team’s two-hit offense.

Lively settled down after the second inning, when he gave up a two-run double to No. 9 hitter Kyle Higashioka.

KING OF THE MOUND

Of the other side of the coin, Padres starter Michael King (8-6) was almost as dominant as teammate Dylan Cease was on Saturday.  King had a no-hitter until the seventh inning.

Cleveland finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh inning when Angel Martinez scored on a groundout by Josh Naylor.

Padres closer Robert Suarez shut the Guardians’ offense down at the end of the game with a four-out save, his 23rd of the season.

DIVISION RACE

The Minnesota Twins lost all three games over the weekend, but the Kansas City Royals won all of theirs. Both teams are five games behind the Guardians.

Speaking of divisional foes, the Detroit Tigers will be in town tonight to kick off a four-game series at Progressive Field.

Unfortunately, the Guardians will face another outstanding pitcher in Tarik Skubal (10-3, 2.41 ERA). Cleveland will counter with Carlos Carrasco (3-7, 5.02 ERA).