The Guardians have discovered that in order to have a respectable start, they must put the ball in Tanner Bibee’s hands.
At Progressive Field on Wednesday night, the Guardians defeated the Mariners 8-0, and Bibee recorded back-to-back starts with at least 10 strikeouts for the first time in his career. With the victory, the Guardians avoided going on their first four-game losing run of the year. The five teams who haven’t done so are the Phillies, Brewers, Yankees, and Orioles.
Manager of the Guardians Stephen Vogt stated, “[Bibee] gave us six solid innings.” enabled us to avoid using the ‘pen’ even more thinly. We had a good rebound game from the previous night.
Bibee was close to making one of his greatest starts of the season when he played in Cincinnati the previous time. Before a three-run home run on his last pitch of the game left him with a bad taste in his mouth, he had struck out eleven batters and given up just one run. This time, he completed the task. On Wednesday, Bibee recorded his third scoreless start of the year in six innings while giving up just three hits, striking out a career-high twelve batters, and walking just one.
“I think we’re all doing really good and it really, really helped for sure,” Bibee remarked of the cutter, slider, and slurve. “Really kind of got ’em off the heater and then towards the end, kind of flip flopped it and didn’t really feel like they knew what was coming.”
Bibee undoubtedly deceived batters. In 93 pitches, he produced 42 swings. Twenty of those swings were whiffs, tying for the second-highest number of whiffs in a game in Bibee’s career (twenty whiffs on July 22 of last year; likewise on May 25 of this year).
Vogt stated, “It’s a fun night to catch, but it’s extremely rare.” “When you have an elite pitcher with all of his pitches working, it kind of feels like you’re playing video games.”
For the Guardians, there has never been a better moment to see this performance. Their starting pitchers combined for a 10.32 ERA during their last three games, giving up 13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings. Triston McKenzie left the game in the third inning on Tuesday, which led to the bullpen being used with six relievers.
According to Vogt, “big-time pitchers step up when the pen’s light.” “And that’s exactly what Tanner did tonight.”
Vogt stated, “It’s a fun night to catch, but it’s extremely rare.” “When you have an elite pitcher with all of his pitches working, it kind of feels like you’re playing video games.”
For the Guardians, there has never been a better moment to see this performance. Their starting pitchers combined for a 10.32 ERA during their last three games, giving up 13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings. Triston McKenzie left the game in the third inning on Tuesday, which led to the bullpen being used with six relievers.
Vogt stated, “Big-time pitchers step up when the pen’s light.” “And Tanner did just that tonight.”
The Guardians required a pitcher who could silence the Mariners offense and give their bats a chance to put them back in the win column, while the bullpen needed a starter who could eat up innings. That’s exactly what Bibee did, and as the season goes on, she’s doing it more often.
“[Earlier in the year] as soon as he’d get ahead he’d try to be perfect in the mid count,” Vogt remarked. “And before you know it, it’s 3-2, couple foul balls and it’s a seven-pitch at-bat. I feel like now it’s three, four pitches and they’re out of there. That’s how you go deep into games and I think he’s learning that more and more and attacking the zone.”
Bibee’s domination is now vital since the remainder of the rotation appears to be sorting out some kinks. The Guardians are waiting for Gavin Williams to enter the Major League rotation after he makes his next rehab start in Akron on Friday. However, it’s difficult to predict what a pitcher who hasn’t pitched this season will bring to the mound. And Bibee has assumed the captaincy role with Shane Bieber out for the remainder of the season.
Not all an ace has to offer is at its peak. Nor does he always start without a point. However, an ace always finds a way to position his side for victory, and this season, Bibee has done just that. Out of the 15 games he has started this season, Cleveland has won 12.
Guardians catcher Bo Naylor remarked, “I love having that guy on my team, being able to be the guy to go out there and be the battery.” “The way that his pitches have been working, the way that he changes shapes, gives different looks. I feel like it proves why he went out and got six today.”
