CLEVELAND — Over time, hitting is game of cat-and-mouse. It's about adjustments and counter-adjustments between a hitter and opposing pitchers.

For parts of this 2024 season, Lane Thomas was more of the mouse, chasing something that wasn't working at the time. Now, he's on the prowl, and he's become the hitter the Guardians envisioned they'd be adding to their lineup when they acquired him just prior to the trade deadline in July.

Thomas was ice cold in the month of August. He hit just .143 with a .433 OPS. The Guardians brought him in to often hit in the No. 2 spot, but the production wasn't there. He was moved down in the lineup to try to regain his form. He wasn't even hitting left-handed pitching well, which was his calling card (in addition to his speed on the bases).

The month of September has been a completely different story. Entering Tuesday's game — in which Thomas drilled a two-run home run — he was hitting .290 with a .930 OPS since Sept. 1.

Lane Thomas heating up for Guardians entering 2024 playoffs

The secret behind him thawing his icy stretch and heating up in September? It's been his approach against fastballs.

Early in the season, pitchers weren't throwing him fastballs as often. It led to him sitting on off-speed pitches more, and eventually, he fell out of his rhythm battling that and a knee injury that sidelined him for weeks.

In a way, he feels he needed those tough stretches to "expose" some things with his swing.

"I missed some games and came back and [didn't hit] well and then I don't know if I ever really found it," Thomas said. "So I'm almost glad that I struggled a little bit and was able to, I guess, expose some things and try and fix what was wrong before the season ended."

As he adjusted to how pitchers were attacking him, pitchers counter-adjusted. He began to see more fastballs but wasn't doing much damage, hitting just .102 against heaters in the month of August. That's when a real switch occurred.

In September, he's been hitting .263 with a .658 slugging percentage against fastballs. It has led to pitchers throwing more off-speed against him lately, but the fastball-first approach continues to work regardless of how the percentages adjust.

"I think the big thing is just getting back into getting on the fastball, trusting that I'm going to take [off-speed] stuff that I should and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't," Thomas said. "It's hard to look for slow stuff and hit the fastball, You can look hard and adjust to the slow [easier]."

A lot of it comes down to approach and timing. Hitters can fall out of that timing, and it can take — well, time — to get it back. It's why Thomas would prefer to go through such stretches in May or August rather than September and, with the Guardians headed for one of the top two seeds in the American League, October.

But perhaps at the right time, Thomas has rounded into form, just as the Guardians hoped he would when he was acquired from the Washington Nationals.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians Lane Thomas on hot streak entering 2024 playoffs