Tanner Bibee's winless streak reaches historic level after tough loss to Red Sox

Last Monday, Tanner Bibee allowed a leadoff home run to James Wood in a start against the Nationals that quickly got away from him. 

By the time Bibee walked off the mound to the sound of boo birds, the Guardians were down 7-1 and the game had all but been decided. 

On Sunday, he gave up yet another leadoff home run when Jarren Duran smashed a homer on Bibee’s fifth pitch of the game to stake the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead. 

It made it seem like we were in store for yet another Bibee clunker in a season that’s been full of them. 

While Bibee was able to lock in and limit the damage across his final five innings, he got no help from his bullpen, as they choked the game away late in what eventually became a 9-4 Red Sox win. 

With the no-decision, Bibee became the first pitcher in Cleveland history to go winless over the first 13 starts of a season. 

Tanner Bibee winless streak continues

This year has clearly been a bit of an up-and-down one for Bibee. While he’s pitched better than he did last year, he hasn’t gotten much run support and still seems susceptible to the longball (which we saw again on Sunday). 

But he’s also shown flashes of ace-dom, like he did on Sunday when he set down nine straight in the middle innings while racking up four strikeouts. 

Now, context is obviously key here. The Nationals boast baseball’s best offense and have one of the game’s most prolific power hitters in Wood. 

Meanwhile, the Red Sox’s offense is more middle of the road (though Duran has started to heat up after his sluggish start to the season). 

But Bibee can only pitch against whoever’s in front of him. Sunday’s assignment called for the Red Sox, and he answered the call. 

He ran into trouble again in the fifth inning when Boston loaded the bases with one out, but he was able to wiggle out of it by only allowing one run thanks to a heads up play from José Ramírez to throw Wilyer Abreu out at second base. 

Not only was Bibee able to avoid the big inning that’s plagued him this year, but he also got some run support thanks to a big fifth inning highlighted by a José Ramírez RBI double highlighted by a horrific misplay from Masataka Yoshida. 

But that all ended up becoming a moot point in the seventh inning when Colin Holderman, Tim Herrin and Codi Heuer choked the game away and allowed six runs to score on just four hits. 

It looked like Herrin got out of the inning when he hit the strike zone on a 3-2 pitch against Wilyer Abreu, but home plate umpire Austin Jones called the pitch a ball. 

Bibee’s start closes what’s actually been a fairly productive month for him. While he opened the month with a dud against the Royals and had his aforementioned disaster against the Nationals, he also posted four quality starts.

It may not have been a perfect month for Bibee, but it was a step in the right direction after his sluggish first month. Even if the starting rotation isn’t a huge need thanks to strong performances from Parker Messick and Gavin Williams, Bibee’s obviously a big part of that equation. 

Sunday’s start showed exactly why that is, even if it was lost to time thanks to a bullpen meltdown.

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