Tanner Bibee Faces Growing Pains As Guardians Fall To Padres

Tanner Bibee gave up six earned runs to the San Diego Padres as the Cleveland Guardians drop the series opener.

Tanner Bibee has had a good start to his MLB career, tremendous in fact. It's sometimes hard to remember that he is still just a rookie as he entered Tuesday night with an ERA of 3.05 in 44.1 innings pitched.

However, this hot start was always going to hit a bump in the road and that's exactly what happened on the first game of the Cleveland Guardians' West Coast road trip.

Bibee faced adversity for the first time in his career as he ran into a San Diego Padres' superstar-filled lineup. The Padres entered the series opener with the same record as the Guardians (31-34). They may be under .500, but they aren't lacking in any talent.

San Diego has only of the most daunting batting orders in baseball for any pitcher to face, rookie or veteran. Their top four consist of Fernado Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Manny Machado, and Xander Bogaerts. Throw in veterans such as Jake Cronenworth and Matt Carpenter behind them and you never have a break.

Bibee got off to a rough start and could never recover. He walked the first two batters of the game, allowed a run before giving up a hit, and capped off the first inning by giving up a three-run homer to Gary Sanchez.

That's hard to come back from. His final line included 4.0 IP, eight hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and six earned runs. 

Bibee was tough on himself after the game saying that his performance was, "Pretty horrible all around honestly ... (I) started bad, kind of figured it out, and then ended pretty bad."

This was obviously Bibee's worst start of his young career and not the way he wanted to pitch with family and friends in the stands. But we have to remember it was also the ninth game he's pitched in the Big Leagues. 

It stings now, but Bibee will only become a better pitcher by facing the league's best hitters and facing these growing pains.

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