Everything seemed to be lining up for Tanner Bibee to finally get his first win of the season for the Cleveland Guardians. The starting pitcher had done his job, throwing six innings and leaving with a one-run lead against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Now, it was simply left to the Guardians’ lockdown bullpen to do its job over the final three innings and get to the celebratory postgame handshakes. Instead, three relievers combined to give up six runs in the seventh inning, and the Guardians suffered a disappointing 9-4 loss.
It was even more disheartening to Bibee, whose record remained at 0-7 and made unfortunate history with the result from his 13th start of the season.
“Bibee, who is 0-7 after Sunday’s no-decision, to become the first pitcher in Cleveland franchise history to go winless in his first 13 starts of a season. It was a tough-luck finish from what has been a trusty Guardians bullpen — which entered Sunday sixth in MLB with a 2.84 ERA this month,” Tim Stebbins wrote.
The right-hander hasn’t earned a victory since Sept. 24 of last season, ending that campaign with a 12-11 record. This year, Cleveland has won the game in just two of Bibee’s 13 outings.
Their Opening Day starter has deserved much better than that. He has allowed one or zero runs in six of his starts, and two runs in another. Most of the time, the Cleveland offense has failed to give him any significant support. The four runs it scored on Sunday were just the third time they have scored that many in one of their games.
It is even more of an outlier with the Guardians seven games over .500 this season. In a recent stretch of 10 wins in 11 games, Bibee took just two turns in the rotation, taking the loss in a 7-6 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds and getting a no-decision in an extra-inning win against the Detroit Tigers.
Fortunately, Gavin Williams and Parker Messick have combined for a 14-4 record that has allowed the Guardians to weather Bibee’s record while waiting for the results to arrive. They are also carrying Slade Cecconi’s 5.25 ERA as they have used just five starters, including Joey Cantillo, for every game this season.
Hopefully, Bibee will get that elusive win in his next outing against the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
NEXT: Guardians Promote Promising Infield Prospect To Double-A
