CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Tanner Bibee didn’t have his best stuff Monday night and with the Cleveland Guardians offense sputtering, that meant bad news at the ballpark.
Bibee suffered his first loss as he was unable to get out of the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers, who took the series opener 6-2 at Progressive Field.
Here’s our Final 9 with Cleveland’s offense still stuck on snooze.
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Here’s our Final 9 with Cleveland’s offense stuck on snooze.
1. With just two runs scored, the Guardians have scored three or fewer runs in 22 of their 35 games this season, including seven of their last eight games. “I don’t think they’re supposed to be having a party when we’re not scoring,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “I don’t think anybody feels like that’s [ok], but no, they're getting after it. They show up early. They hit extra and they keep their enthusiasm during the game, but they get tired of making right turns. I get it.”
2. Cleveland struck first for the second straight game in the first inning after Steven Kwan led off with a double and Amed Rosario followed with a single. Kwan scored on a double play ball off the bat of Jose Ramirez that erased Rosario for a 1-0 Guardians lead. They feel they’re one big hit away from breaking out. “We saw a little bit of that this past week,” Josh Bel, who single din four plate appearances Monday, said. “[Steven] Kwan came through in the clutch. It seemed like when Ramirez hit that Homer tonight, that’s the one that we needed to kind of get going, but we couldn’t really answer. They kept tacking on runs, but for the most part, we still have that trust in each other. We know that we're a really good team and we're definitely going to be showing that to you guys here in the future.”
3. The Tigers got to Guardians starter Tanner Bibee for three runs in the third inning. Detroit sent all nine to the plate and scored runs on a Zach McKinstry RBI infield single, Javier Baez RBI single to left and RBI double from Nick Maton for a 3-1 advantage. “I think it was just one of those days, honestly,” Bibee said. “Probably just a feel thing. Not much. Not many pitches were kind of landing.”
4. Bibee’s night ended in the fourth with two outs. He was charged with four runs on seven hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts to suffer his first Major League loss and fall to 1-1. “Didn't command very well,” Francona said. “Shoot, I think it was what four walks and I don’t know, 5, 6, 7 hits there. Had a lot of base runners. Just didn't seem like he was throwing it where he wanted to.”
5. Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez flashed that gold glove in the first inning when he snared Tigers center fielder Riley Greene’s grounder up the middle that he backhanded and flipped with his glove to shortstop Amed Rosario to get right fielder Zach McKinstry, who walked to lead off the game, at second base. The play prevented the first two Tigers from reaching and potentially starting a rally out of the gate.
6. Jose Ramirez slugged his fourth home run of the season – a 410-foot blast to the bleachers off Tigers starter Joey Wentz – to pull Cleveland within 4-2 to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Since 2017, Ramirez has slugged 28 home runs, driven in 96 runs and collected 64 extra base hits against the Tigers.
7. Andy Ibanez greeted Guardians reliever Eli Morgan in the top of the sixth with two outs by sending Morgan’s first offering over the left field wall.
8. Monday night’s game was the longest nine-inning game at home this season at 2:53. The longest home game of the season was a 7-6 12-inning victory over Seattle in 12 innings on April 9.
9. The Guardians fell to 7-13 since April 16 and are 16-19 on the season.