Tanner Bibee walked off the mound on Monday night without a win, but his manager made sure nobody left Progressive Field with the wrong impression about what they saw from the Cleveland ace.
Vogt was honest when asked about pulling Bibee in the middle of what had been a dominant outing against the Royals. The decision had nothing to do with how the right-hander was throwing the baseball and everything to do with a single costly inning that ate through his pitch count faster than anyone wanted.
“I thought Tanner was outstanding. I thought he threw the ball great. Unfortunate inning where it cost him eleven pitches and a run. That’s why we had to go get him, because he ran out of pitches. I thought he was throwing the ball excellent and dialed and locked in. Just ran out of pitches,” Vogt said.
" I thought he was dialed and locked in. Just ran out of pitches"#Guardians Stephen Vogt on Tanner Bibee's night #GuardsBall @WEWS pic.twitter.com/pf4Rb86pwI
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) April 7, 2026
Bibee finished with four and two-thirds innings pitched, allowing one run on five hits while striking out three and walking one. He threw 87 pitches in total, 57 of which were strikes. The efficiency was there for most of the outing. It was that one extended inning that prevented him from going deeper into the game and ultimately left the door open for the Royals to pull away late.
Through three starts in 2026, Bibee has looked like the pitcher Cleveland needs him to be at the top of this rotation. His stuff has been sharp, his command has been reliable, and the results have generally reflected a pitcher operating at a high level, even when the outcomes have not always gone his way.
The Guardians are going to need him to stay healthy and continue building on what he showed Monday night as the season progresses. Based on what Vogt saw, that should not be a difficult ask.
He was dialed in. He just ran out of pitches.
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