Well, the Cleveland Guardians are right back to .500.
And unfortunately, that perfect middle ground is a good representation on how this season has been for the boys in navy blue and red.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, the Guardians fell to the Toronto Blue Jays in a series finale affair, 6-3, as the starting pitching from Tanner Bibee put the team on their heels early. The 27-year-old ended up allowing four hits, five earned runs and five walks, only contributing four strikeouts along the way. He was ultimately pulled after 89 pitches.
"He made pitches at times when you needed to," Vogt began. "[But] the command just wasn't quite as sharp as we've seen from Tanner, lately, and, you know, more walks than we're used to seeing from him, but, you know I thought he battled, it just wasn't the, wasn't the best one for Tanner today."
This season, Bibee now owns a measly 5-15 record while on the bump. He also has a 4.06 ERA and 1.18 WHIP, all while striking out just 132 batters.
Many of Bibee's losses have come from a lack of offensive production, but other times, it has been outings like Thursday's where he loses control early and can't recover.
"I think he has been consistent for us," Vogt continued. "Tanner has given us a chance to win more times than not. It happens... his record is not indicative of how this year has gone for him. We have had a tough time scoring runs in his starts. But he has been excellent."
After Bibee left the game, Cleveland's coaching staff had to turn to six different arms to finish off the game, with all but Hunter Gaddis giving up traction on the base paths. However, he only threw four pitches and was on the mound for just 0.1 innings.
Carlos Hernandez gave up the Blue Jays' last run of the game, allowing two hits, one walk and one earned run in the ninth inning. He threw the most amount of pitches out of the bullpen, finishing with 26.
Through two appearances since his promotion to the big leagues on Tuesday, he owns a 6.00 ERA.
Heading into a four-game weekend series against the in-division Detroit Tigers, the Guardians' are going to have to put the Toronto series behind them quickly. They can't afford to get hung up on what happened, especially considering there is just 22 games left in the regular season.
The Blue Jays also now own the Wild Card tiebreaker with the victory on Thursday.
With them still sitting just a few games out of the top spot in the American League Central, the Guardians will look to snag the series against the Tigers and look to pull off yet another comeback for the crown.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/guardians/onsi as Bibee Blunder As Guardians Lose Series Finale To Blue Jays At Home .
