The recent momentum the Cleveland Guardians have built came to a dead stop Tuesday night as they fell flat against the San Diego Padres. After winning their last two series against the Astros and the Red Sox, Cleveland drops game one 6-3 in San Diego. A terrible first inning left Cleveland in a 4-0 hole that they would not be able to escape.
A Night To Forget
Tanner Bibee, a rookie pitcher out of Cal State Fullerton got the start for Cleveland. Bibee, who only had a 3.05 ERA in his first eight big league starts, got absolutely rocked. He lasted about four innings and gave up six runs. Back-to-back walks from Bibee hinted at some command issues early on. A few batters later, Gary Sanchez hammered a first-pitch slider that was hung out over the plate. That ball landed in the stands for a monster three-run blast.
Six batters into the first inning and the Cleveland Guardians were already down 4-0. Things did not get much better in the second. Other than Josh Bell taking a curveball for a ride to right field to get a run back. Fernando Tatis Jr. could do the same to Bibee soon after on a 0-1 count. That ball traveled a shocking 405 feet to center field. After facing 10 batters Tanner Bibee already allowed more runs than he had in all of his eight starts.
“I mean, pretty horrible all around, honestly,” Bibee said when asked what went wrong in Tuesday’s outing. “You could pick one [issue], I could pick one.” according to MLB.com.
“I thought some early pitches were not located well,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “He paid the price on the breaking ball to Sánchez that went for a three-run home run. It was just a middle-middle pitch.”
Bibee’s Struggles
Tanner’s biggest problem was his inability to make the Padres’ hitters miss the ball. Bibee got only four whiffs on 34 pitches. That is good for just an 11.8% whiff rate. This is well below the 25.2% he generated in his last starts for CLE. When the Padres made contact with Bibee they did major damage. The average exit velocity was around 94.1 MPH.
The Cleveland Guardians are looking to bounce back tonight with Aaron Civale on the mound. Civale has been great after his return from injury so this will be a great test for the veteran pitcher. Can the Guards get it done tonight?
Image Credits: commons.wikimedia.org.