Tanner Bibee and an unlikely hero propel Guardians to victory

For the second straight game, the Cleveland Guardians for an outstanding performance from one of their rookie starters. It was Tanner Bibee taking his turn in the rotation as he kept the Toronto Blue Jays off the scoreboard. 

While not as dominant as Gavin Williams the day before, that does not discount Bibee’s night. The rookie right-hander allowed six hits and struck out six in 7 innings. It was not the cleanest outing, as the Blue Jays were able to get multiple runners on base in the contest. 

There was a potential tipping point that Bibee had to dance out of. Toronto loaded the bases with just one out in the Top of the 3rd. This came immediately  after the Guardians took a 1-0 lead the bottom half of the previous inning. Bibee was able to strike the next two batters out to keep the lead intact. In all, Cleveland’s pitching forced Toronto into leaving nine runners on base despite going 2-8 with runners in scoring position. 

A newcomer comes through

As mentioned above, the Guardians got out to an early 1-0 lead that they were able to hold on to the rest of the game. How did they get that lead? An RBI double from Ramon Laureano in his first at-bat with his new team.  

Laureano was able to double down the line into left on a 1-0 hanging curveball that caught too much of the plate. Oscar Gonzalez who reached base on an infield single in the previous at-bat, would come around to score what became the game-winning run. This ended up being a pretty impressive Guardians debut after being claimed off waivers by Cleveland the day before. 

The win combined with a Minnesota Twins loss has the Guardians trailing by 4.5 games in the division. Cleveland’s margin for error is still incredibly thin, but it has not disappeared entirely yet.