Tanner Bibee's strong start against Twins validated Guardians' rotation reshuffling ahead of White Sox series

Yesterday afternoon, Tanner Bibee turned in arguably his best start of the year when he allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins. 

It may not have been the best statistical performance of his season, but it came in different circumstances. While Bibee’s start came on five days' rest, it came a day earlier than initially planned after the Guardians re-shuffed their rotation ahead of this week’s series against the White Sox. 

Instead of Bibee going later today against the White Sox (as initially scheduled), the Guardians went with a bullpen game on Saturday and had Bibee go yesterday so that way Gavin Williams could toe the rubber later today.

Although there’s still a chance that plan could still backfire against them if Williams struggles later today, Bibee held up his end of the deal with his dazzling start against the Twins. 

Tanner Bibee held up his part of the Guardians' rotation reshuffling

While the Guardians’ decision to shift their rotation wasn’t as drastic as last year’s shift to a six-man rotation, any change involving the rotation always has a chance to backfire since starters are such creatures of habit. 

It didn’t impact Bibee, who continues to be the consummate professional even in a season where he’s had some serious struggles. 

After the Twins got a run against Bibee in the third inning, he set down 10 in a row in the middle innings before Trevor Larnach recorded a solo home run in the seventh inning. 

Normally that kind of late game homer would mark the end of a starter’s outing, but manager Stephen Vogt let Bibee face off three more batters and get two more outs. 

That may seem like a small moment, but every pitch that Bibee covered after giving up that homer was one less pitch that a high-leverage arm needed to throw. 

Hunter Gaddis and Erik Sabrowksi both threw 2/3 of an inning in relief of Bibee before Matt Festa closed out the game with a scoreless inning, so everyone should be fresh and available ahead of Cleveland’s biggest series of the year. 

Bibee’s start may not have come with the same stakes as if it came against the White Sox, but it was still an important outing given it set up that series against the Twins. 

If he had a dud then the Guardians would still be 1 1/2 games behind Chicago. Now they’re just a half-game back of Chicago while being one game behind in the loss column. 

Now it’s on Williams, who will be making his first start in eight days (seven games) after having his usual start day skipped over on Saturday. 

Bibee may not get the ball in Game 1 of the Guardians’ postseason series, but his start against the Twins showed his pitching flexibility. That could be just as valuable come October.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow