Tanner Bibee roughed up in 6-3 loss to San Diego

At some point Guardians rookie Tanner Bibee was due for a clunker. That time was Tuesday night in San Diego. Bibee was roughed up by the Padres in what is easily the worst start in his career.

The young Cleveland starter allowed six runs on eight hits (including two home runs) and two walks in only 4 innings. 49 of Bibee's 75 pitches went for strikes in the contest, the fewest strikes thrown since his last bad start, an outing against Detroit which saw only 37 strikes thrown with four runs allowed by way of seven hits and four walks in 3.2 innings.

Bibee needs to put this outing behind him, but not forget it. This was a learning opportunity for Bibee and there were plenty of lessons to be learned from the loss. Expect some corrections and adjustments the next time Bibee takes the mound.

The unfortunate part of this outing is that the game got out of hand rather quickly. San Diego put up a four-spot in the bottom of the 1st and did not look back. Even if the Padres did not score again, they would have had enough to hold off the Guardians and the three runs they managed to put up.

There are a couple of positive takeaways from the loss. First off, Josh Bell hit his sixth home run of the season. Getting any sort of production from Bell is a positive as he has still been a massive disappointment this season. But perhaps the bat of Bell is finally coming to life as he has seven hits in his last 21 at-bats (six games) with two doubles and two home runs.

The other positive is that the Guardians bullpen shut down the Padres after Bibee's premature exit. San Diego did not record a hit over their final four innings at the plate, their only baserunner being Matt Carpetner who reached via base on balls against Eli Morgan. Outside of that little blip, Cleveland's bullpen was able to take care of business.

Cleveland has a chance to even the series and force a rubber match Thursday with a win Wednesday night.