TAMPA — Tanner Bibee has not had the season he would have hoped for, having mixed impressive outings with bouts of inconsistency. But the month of September is an opportunity for the right-hander to finish the regular season strong and — if things go right for the Guardians — help his club reach the postseason.
Bibee is off to a good start. He allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings to help the Guardians beat the Rays, 3-2, on Saturday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Cleveland has a chance to win the pivotal four-game set between the two postseason hopefuls on Sunday.
The Guardians (71-70) moved past the Rays (71-71) in the American League Wild Card picture. Cleveland remained 2 1/2 games behind Seattle (74-68) for the third spot.
“That was unbelievable,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Tanner was outstanding.”
Saturday marked Bibee’s first quality start since July 21 against the Orioles. He entered the day with a 4.77 ERA over 27 starts this season, and since July 2, he had recorded a 6.15 ERA in 11 starts, which was sixth highest in the Majors over that stretch.
Bibee has seen some of his underlying metrics go up this season compared to last, when he recorded a 3.47 ERA in 31 starts. His walk rate was 7.4 percent entering Saturday (6.2 percent in ‘24); his hard-hit rate was 37.6 percent (36.9 in ‘24); and he had allowed 1.51 homers per nine innings (1.14 in ‘24).
Anecdotally, it has felt at times like Bibee has had some misfortune, and then paid for it further after surrendering damage. His expected ERA entering Saturday (3.83) is perhaps in part a product of some tough luck.
Bibee has worked this season on not getting hung up on moments that don’t go his way.
“I feel like in the past,” Bibee said, “I was better at letting [things] kind of roll off my shoulders and doing that stuff. But I feel it’s happened more than usual for me [this season], just like the bad luck.
“I feel like, finally today, I just kind of got into a better mindset about it in being like, ‘I can’t control it.’”
Saturday was an outing Bibee can build upon down the stretch.
With one out in the fourth, Brandon Lowe hit a first-pitch foul popup down the right-field line. The ball landed between right fielder George Valera, second baseman Daniel Schneemann and first baseman C.J. Kayfus. Bibee ultimately struck out Lowe.
After Bibee allowed a leadoff homer to Junior Caminero in the fifth, he retired the next three Rays hitters. Bibee’s outing ended two outs into the seventh after he allowed Jake Mangum’s infield single that deflected off his glove.
“Where he’s fallen apart at times this year, he gamed up,” Vogt said. “You saw the popup fall in foul territory. He’s had so much bad luck. … He stepped up and made pitches. That could have been really easy to let that get away from him. But getting us to the seventh, kind of some tough luck that didn’t allow him to get seven complete, Tanner was phenomenal.”
Erik Sabrowski entered for Bibee with the game tied at 2. He walked Christopher Morel and Nick Fortes, as the Rays loaded the bases. With the big left-hander’s back turned to third base, Mangum tried to steal home to score the go-ahead run.
Sabrowski stepped off and fired a 72.9 mph strike to catcher Bo Naylor, who tagged out Mangum to end the inning.
“Well, I appreciate the free out,” Sabrowski said, when asked about that moment.
Sabrowski said when there is a runner on third base, he has a multiple-step set position, and he takes glances at third in case of a scenario such as Saturday’s.
“Definitely focused on trying to get an out, and then I see a white blur out of the corner of my eye,” Sabrowski said. “I’m happy I stepped off and threw it home, right, since you see that play go the wrong way a lot of times. I’m glad I was able to get it done.”
That moment closed the book on Bibee’s outing. The Guardians then took the lead in the ninth on a two-out infield single by Steven Kwan off Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.
After Bibee walked into Cleveland’s clubhouse postgame, a teammate delivered a message of encouragement to the right-hander: “Tanner, you’re nasty, bro.”
Bibee was asked, in good fun, whether what his teammate said is true.
“I hope so,” he said, chuckling. “It felt like it today, so that’s good.”
