News and Notes - Bibee Hits Career High Strikeouts in Victory Over Seattle

The Guardians blanked Seattle to end the 3 game losing streak and improve their record to 45-26.

The Cleveland Guardians can take a deep breath after a dominant outing last night against the Seattle Mariners. Tanner Bibee was absolutely lights out for the Guardians. There’s only so many words that can be used to describe what Bibee did to Seattle’s offense. Coming off of a great start that had an undesirable ending in Cincinnati, Bibee locked in again.

Going into the 3rd inning Bibee had a staggering 7 strikeouts, and they kept racking up. Bibee hit a career high 12 strikeouts in this quality start. The combination of his great pitching, Bo Naylor’s great framing, and a rather high (but consistent) strike zone for home plate umpire Doug Eddings proved too much for J.P. Crawford who ended up getting ejected for arguing a called 3rd strike to end the 5th inning.

In the 6th inning, Bibee was sitting at a comfortable 80 pitches. He wasn’t able to make super quick work of the side and ended the night throwing 93 pitches in 6.0 IP, giving up only 3 H, 1 BB, 0 R, and 12 K.

Scott Barlow came in for the 7th inning. He only faced 3 batters, but he struggled getting the ball in the zone and was throwing a fair amount low or outside. Barlow did give up a walk to Luke Raley, but was saved by the fielders with a clean 6-4-3 double play. Hunter Gaddis pitched the 8th inning and was just as locked in as Bibee. Once he settled in after a couple of pitches, he was simply commanding the strike zone and fooling Seattle hitters. Gaddis faced 3 batters and struck out 2.

Emmanuel Clase came on to pitch the 9th, a nice change of pace to pitch with such a lead. He threw fast and forced a couple of grounders that the Guardians defense easily took care of. There was not much Seattle could do against Cleveland pitching. Bibee was the only pitcher to give up a hit and he only gave up 3. The pitching staff walked 2 but struck out 14. Granted, as previously mentioned, the strike zone was a little high for the home plate ump. However, the strike zone was fairly consistent, at least it seemed so to me. Cleveland batters got similar strike calls, but were able to adjust better and faster in the box and were able to have a strong outing.

Like Bibee, I’m not sure what more can be said about Steven Kwan other than adding “All-Star” to his introduction. Kwan is one of, if not thee best, lead off hitter in the league. Not just as an individual either. While José Ramírez, Josh Naylor, and Austin Hedges are the clubhouse leaders, Kwan has become a pivotal momentum leader. He is consistently setting the tone for this line up and that remained true tonight with a lead off walk to start the bottom of the 1st.

With Kwan on first, José had a Ramírez classic 9 pitch battle against the RHP Seattle starter Bryan Woo. This resulted in a sharp single to right field, advancing Kwan to 3rd. Josh Naylor came up to bat and had a competitive at bat; swinging at a ball that was low in the zone and fouling off 3 pitches that were strikes but not quite what he wanted. This all ended with a 4-seamer that Josh hit for a single to right field, scoring Kwan and putting the Guards on the board first.

The squad kept the momentum rolling into the 2nd inning where, with two outs, Bo Naylor hit a double to center field. Turning over to the top of the order, Steven Kwan hit his 5th home run of the season off of the foul pole in right field.

Seattle pitching made quick work of the line up in the 3rd and 4th innings, but the Guardians weren’t done yet. With two outs in the 5th inning, Andrés Giménez drew a walk and then promptly stole 2nd base. José came up to bat and hit a bouncing infield ball to 2B Ryan Bliss who came in as the defensive replacement for J.P. Crawford, shifting Dylan Moore from 2B to SS. Bliss was unable to throw José out at first, throwing the ball into the ground. José Ramírez gave his patented José Hustle to beat the bad throw, earning himself another single on the night. With the sloppy bouncing throw to first, Ty France did not notice Giménez getting a jump to home right away and was a second too late throwing home.

Giménez stole a run and José Ramírez promptly stole 2nd base. The inning wasn’t over yet. Josh Naylor came up to bat and RHP Mike Baumann proceeded to pitch around Josh, throwing high above the strike zone. With a 3-0 count, Baumann threw a 4-seamer over the plate. Josh swung on the pitch and launched it to right field.

Momentum carried into the 6th. Daniel Schneemann drew a one out walk. With two outs, Schneemann stole 2nd. This was a key baserunning play. Bo Naylor singled to right field, allowing a hustling Schneemann to score.

In the 7th inning, Josh Naylor stepped back into the batters box and hit a 404 ft home run to center field, his 2nd on the night and 19th on the season:

Cleveland offense remained quiet for the rest of the game, but that doesn’t take away from how enjoyable this game was to watch. Josh and Bo had great at bats, even the ones that didn’t produce hits. The base running was great. Everyone who stole a base was confident when they set off for the next base and hustled hard to get the steal. This game demonstrated the good baserunning that we as fans have seen in recent years. This game was a great reset and hopefully realigns the ship back to its course. Slumps are going to happen and some players aren’t going to perform consistently. Games like this bring a clubhouse together and inject much needed energy igoing into a long stretch without a day off. This was a fun game against the best team in the AL West.

Box Score

AL Central Standings:

Cleveland Guardians - 45-26

Kansas City Royals - 41-33 - 5.5 GB

Minnesota Twins - 41-33 - 5.5 GB

Detroit Tigers - 34-40 - 12.5 GB

Chicago White Sox - 20-55 - 27.0 GB

The Guardians are still 3rd overall in the American League, remaining behind 1st place New York Yankees (51-25) and 2nd place Baltimore Orioles (48-25). Cleveland still has the 4th best record in all of baseball.

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Cleveland Guardians News:

Cleveland Baseball Alumni Nick Goody and Brandon Guyer had some fun with their ceremonial first pitches.

Less fun news: Nick Sandlin to the 15-day IL. The team recalled RHP Darren McCaughan from AAA Columbus. Darren was traded to the Guardians from the Marlins for cash in the beginning of May.

Around the League:

Giants and Cardinals set to play at Rickwood Field.