Bibee Can't Catch a Break Again in Guardians' Head-Scratching Defeat to Rangers
Bibee Can't Catch a Break Again in Guardians' Head-Scratching Defeat to Rangers
Bibee hasn't received the best run support this season, and on Tuesday night, that storyline continued. Cade Cracas|
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Cleveland GuardiansTanner Bibee may be baseball's most unlucky pitcher.
And if it were up to me, I'd likely say he's cursed.
On Tuesday, June 30, the Cleveland Guardians started Bibee on the bump for the second outing of a three-game home series against the Texas Rangers. In the month of June, Bibee had been phenomenal on the mound. Fortunately, that notion didn't change.
He would pitch through seven innings of work, allowing just five hits, three runs, two earned runs and no walks, striking out two batters along the way.
For many teams in baseball, seeing your starter get through seven frames with such little damage being done would be enough to find a way to pull out a win, however, the Guardians wouldn't be able to. They fell, 4-2, with the offense contributing just five hits and two earned runs on the night.
" [he worked] short at-bats," manager Stephen Vogt said postgame. "Weak contact, quick outs, low pitch count, seven innings. [we] can't ask for anything more."
While many of the team's struggles at the plate as of recent has been due to so many youngsters making their major league debuts, those issues bled into the defensive side of the Guardians' game.
Prospect catcher/outfielder Cooper Ingle, who was just called up from Triple-A to make his Major League Debut back on Friday, June 26, caught a flyball in left field in the seventh inning.
However, while it initially looked like a routine play, he then turned and tossed the ball into the crowd, thinking that his catch secured the final out of the inning. It was just the second. The umpires immediately ruled the ball dead, with an error being attributed to Ingle and the runner on second, Ezequiel Duran, being given home plate.
"Honestly, when I threw the ball out, I heard a bunch of yelling," Ingle said postgame. "It happens sometimes, but I just have to learn from it and not make the same mistake... It was a mistake, I don't have a reason for why it happened, but it just did."
The run scored would give the Rangers a 3-2 advantage, before they ended up tacking on another run to finish the job, 4-2.
" [I] went over and apologized to Bibee," Ingle continued. "If that didn’t happen, he might be able to go further into the game and save the bullpen a bit…"
Such a moment felt like it was meant to happen to Bibee, though, as all season long, he has done his job. Unfortunately, it just hasn't been enough to guide the team to wins.
Across 18 starts, the 27-year-old has given up four or more runs three times, three runs or more seven times and two runs or less 11 times. He has also recorded three shutouts.
Bibee's metrics show that he is one of the better pitchers in baseball. He rarely walks batters, posting a mark of 7.1%, which places him in the 71st percentile, while his run values see him in the "great" percentile in pitching and fastball work.
As long as the 27-year-old can continue to flash improvements game by game and maintain consistency, there is a realistic world where he works his way back to the dominant 2023 and 2024 form he flashed.
There is still plenty of season to go, but if Bibee can keep up the form he displayed in June, he will be able to regain the respect of being Cleveland's ace.
He is scheduled to be back on the bump on Sunday, July 5, for a 2:00 p.m. EST start against the Chicago White Sox.
Published 1 minute ago
CADE CRACASCade Cracas is a sports media professional with experience in play-by-play, broadcasting and digital storytelling. He is a recent graduate of Ashland University with degrees in digital media production and journalism.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
