After spending more than three weeks in sole possession of first place of the American League West, the Houston Astros are now tied for the top spot with the Texas Rangers. Even after Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals dealt the Astros their fourth loss in five tries, the players in the clubhouse say no one is freaking out about a blown lead that had been stretched out to as much as three games just last week.

“I think everybody’s pretty calm, I don’t think there’s any panic,” Astros center fielder Daulton Varsho said. “(Royals starting pitcher Daniel) Lynch pitched a pretty good game, felt himself a little bit, but I think overall we’re not panicking at all.”

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Lynch did shut down the Astros, throwing five shutout innings, allowing just two hits – both to Jeremy Peña – but it’s more than just facing good pitching. Houston, which owns the tiebreaker over the Rangers, hasn’t produced more than four runs in a game since an 11-7 loss at Philadelphia a week ago. In the two meetings with the Royals this series, Peña and Yordan Alvarez have combined to go 8-for-14 with three home runs, while the rest of the lineup teamed up go 4-for-47 (.085).

“Game’s hard,” said first baseman Christian Walker, who is hitless in his past 19 at-bats. “We’ve been facing some good pitching, but I need to be better, no way around it. Keep chipping away, keep working and competing my butt off.”

Hitting a baseball is indeed hard. It’s an exacting skill that sometimes actually gets worse the harder you try. So, how do you compete your butt off, as Walker likes to say, while also staying relaxed and trying to be in the flow of things at the plate?

“It’s hard to put your finger on one thing,” Walker said. “I think this is a group of guys who worked really, really hard to put ourselves in this spot all season to be successful and we feel like it’s right there for us to take and you’ve just got to find the right amount of try-hard. You’re playing as hard as you can, you’re trying to push every run across, but the game is elusive sometimes the harder you try. I think that’s where we can fall back on leaning on each other and I think we’re working on the right stuff, we’re prepared, it’s just a matter of executing.”

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Joe Espada says he doesn’t get the sense that his hitters are pressing at the plate, but does admit that it’s time to see more production from the hitters who come after Peña and Alvarez.

“We just need to stretch that production further down the lineup,” the Astros manager said. “Just try to get more guys down in the bottom to get some hits with men in scoring position. We’re going to continue to work with these guys and try to work on our approach and try to make some adjustments because we just need to score early and put pressure.”

Varsho, who snapped an 0-for-14 stretch with a ninth-inning single Wednesday, is confident the entire lineup is putting in the work to find the right feel at the plate, even if the results haven’t been there.

“It’s just one of those things where this game can frustrate you pretty fast,” Varsho said. “You might feel something and it might click, but you might not get the result you want. You kind of have to take the good a little bit with the result even though it might not be there, but I think overall you see the guys are grinding and doing everything we can to put the right foot forward.”

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Just like in golf, dialing in a swing is a matter of precision that is easier shown than explained, but Walker has a simple plan.

“Just be better,” he said. “Play our brand of baseball. We know what we’re capable of. We’ve got a chance here regardless of where (our lead) was early in the year or a week ago. We’re in a spot to be in the postseason and that’s what we’re fighting for, so that’s the goal every day, show up and be the best version of ourselves every day and accomplish that goal as a group.”

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This article originally published at ‘We’re not panicking’: Astros hitters talk about pressure while falling into tie with Rangers.