Guardians Look To Give Tanner Bibee Run Support After Unlucky Start to 2026

The Cleveland Guardians have yet to give Tanner Bibee the support he deserves.

To begin the 2026 MLB regular season, the Guardians are winless with Bibee on the mound, something that hasn't been completely his fault. While he's had his fair share of ups and downs to begin the year, recently, the 27-year-old starting arm hasn't been able to get run support.

In his last start, which was on Saturday, May 9, Bibee pitched through a strong six innings, allowing just one hit, two walks and one earned run, striking out nine batters in the process.

However, while he did his job on the mound, limiting the Minnesota Twins' offense greatly, the Guardians didn't end up pulling through. They fell, 2-1, in an eleven-inning affair.

As he prepares to step foot back on the mound, nearly a week since the heartbreaking loss, manager Stephen Vogt spoke to how the early-season losses have strengthened his mental game and helped him grow.

"You know, a pitcher's record is such a weird stat, right? A lot of that's out of their control," Vogt began. "But I think what we've seen from Tanner is... He's evolving. He's figuring out what the league is doing to him, right? He's not new anymore. He's been around; this is his fourth year. People know what he's going to bring. People know what he's going to do. And he's still able to make pitches around that and evolving his arsenal, evolving his mix."

Seeing growth on the mental side is obviously of critical importance, but so is the evolution of his pitching arsenal. The more he feels comfortable testing batters, and himself, in different situations, allows him to expand the ways he uses different pitches.

This season, his off-speed pitches have become incredibly effective.

Through his first nine starts, he has leaned into his changeup and curveball a lot more, which has helped him send down batters. His changeup has struck out a pitch-high 16 batters and allowed just a 0.63 batting average against.

But besides his growth both technically and mentally, Vogt has been impressed with his ability to compete, even through the bumps in the road.

"It's just been fun to see him compete because he's had some bad luck," Vogt said. "He's had some games where we haven't scored. But he continues to just keep us in the games that he's starting, and he's on a really nice run right now."

The Guardians and Cincinnati Reds kick off a three-game set on Friday, May 15, with the two sides going toe-to-toe at 7:10 p.m. EST.

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