Tanner Bibee spent Tuesday night trading punches with Jacob deGrom, and that alone says plenty about where the Guardians right-hander is right now.
Cleveland dropped a 4-2 decision to the Rangers, but Bibee’s outing looked every bit like the work of a pitcher who has reclaimed the top spot in the rotation. He held Texas to two runs over seven innings, and the result was a tough-luck loss that didn’t match the quality of what he put on the mound.
The performance capped a strong June for Bibee, one in which he posted a 1.89 ERA across 33 1/3 innings. That’s the kind of month that changes the conversation fast.
It’s a sharp turn from how things opened for him. Bibee’s season began with an Opening Day start that ended after five innings because of right shoulder inflammation, and by the end of May he was sitting on a 4.57 ERA.
But June brought a different version of him. He opened the month with eight scoreless innings against the same Rangers club, then added a start against the Tigers in which he allowed two runs over seven innings and another outing with six scoreless innings against the White Sox.
Tuesday may have been his most impressive showing of all. The heat in Texas sat at 91 degrees, and the ball looked ready to jump all night, yet Bibee kept the damage down.
He allowed plenty of fly balls, but the Rangers managed only three balls with an exit velocity of 100+ miles per hour against him. That kind of contact control is exactly how a pitcher keeps the ball in the yard, and Bibee did enough of it to keep Cleveland in the game.
Texas did get its two runs, including a Joc Pederson homer, and Bibee took the loss after Cooper Ingle brought in the go-ahead run when he tossed the ball in the stands with just two outs. Still, the outing stood on its own.
DeGrom matched him with two runs allowed over seven innings, but the Rangers ace finished with seven strikeouts to Bibee’s two. Even so, Bibee went toe to toe with one of the game’s biggest names and made it look like a duel between equals.
That’s a long way from where he was in April and May, and it helps explain why Cleveland’s front office gave him a five-year, $48 million contract last spring. The Guardians have gotten solid work from Parker Messick and Gavin Williams, who helped steady the rotation while Bibee found his footing. But now Bibee is back at the front, and Tuesday was another reminder of why.
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For Cleveland, the timing matters because every lineup decision feels amplified when the opposing starter can change the tone of a game by himself. The projections point to a close one and even hint at a higher-scoring finish than you might expect, but for the Guardians the bigger question is whether they can absorb the absences, stay competitive early, and keep themselves within striking distance against a Texas club that has a little more room to lean on its top-end arms. [Read more 🡒]