Guardians confident Bibee 'will be fine' after rough start vs. Tigers
May 8—Manager Terry Francona predicted his young pitchers who have been thrust into action because of injuries to established starters would experience hiccups. May 8 was a night for Tanner Bibee to breathe into a paper bag or bite on a lemon.
Bibee made his third start for the Guardians in the first of a three-game set with the Detroit Tigers and did not make it out of the fourth inning. The Tigers banged out six hits against him in a three-run third inning and added one more run in the fourth on their way to a 6-2 victory at Progressive Field. Bibee took the loss to drop to 1-1.
"He'll be fine," Francona said after the game. "He's done a really good job. He'll continue to get better and learn. He just didn't have a very good game. That could happen to anybody, but he'll be all right."
The Guardians (16-19) fell into third place with the loss, a half-game behind the Tigers in the AL Central. Cleveland has scored three or fewer runs in 22 of their 35 games. They are 5-17 in those games.
Tanner Bibee, a Lake County Captain just one year ago, took his first loss with @CleGuardians Monday night in a 6-2 drubbing by the Tigers. pic.twitter.com/HTJyR21063
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) May 9, 2023
A year ago at this time, Bibee was pitching with the High-A Lake County Captains. He made 12 starts (2-1, 2.59 ERA) and got the call to head South to Double-A Akron.
Bibee, a 2021 fifth-round draft pick from Cal State Fullerton, went 6-1 with a miserly 1.83 ERA in 13 starts with Akron. That performance earned the 6-foot-2 righthander another trip south to begin the 2023 season with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.
North was the only direction Bibee could go from Columbus as he continued to ascend through the Guardians' pitching factory. He made only three starts with the Clippers (2-0, 1.76 ERA, 19 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings) before getting the call to replace injured Aaron Civale (oblique strain) in the Cleveland rotation.
"It's been a little bit of a whirlwind for sure," Bibee said after the loss. "I was in college two years ago and Lake County last year. It's been crazy, but you have to adapt or you'll sink pretty much."
Triston McKenzie was already on the injured list (shoulder) before Civale was hurt in his second start. McKenzie won't be back until late May or early June. Civale is expected to pitch a simulated game next weekend, but the Guardians aren't rushing him back.
In other words, one rough night isn't going to make president of baseball operations Chris Antonertti issue Bibee a return ticket to Columbus. Bibee made two starts before facing the Tigers and was 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA. He pitched a combined 11 innings against the Rockies and Yankees and struck out 13 without walking a batter. He walked four Tigers in addition to coughing up seven hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
"With growth, the longer I go, is something that definitely needs to be worked on just so the pen doesn't get beat up as much as they did today," Bibee said, "That's definitely on me. If I could get through at least five, I think that game's a little different. I won't say I folded, but I kind of let my guard down a little bit."
Nick Sandlin, Eli Morgan, Enyel De Los Santos and Xzavion Curry worked out of the bullpen after Bibee exited. They gave up a combined four hits, two walks and two runs.
