Bibee delivers 2nd straight gem from Guardians rookie

CLEVELAND -- Guardians starter Tanner Bibee would look at the scoreboard each inning. For the first two, it was a scoreless tie. For the next five, his team had a one-run lead. He’d repeat the score in his head and remind himself of the same thing each frame: “I’ve thrown this many pitches and they haven’t been able to hit any of them.”

His mantra was right and it helped him power through seven strong scoreless frames in the Guardians’ 1-0 victory over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

This mindset is what has fueled Cleveland’s pitching staff the last two nights. When Gavin Williams toed the rubber on Monday against Toronto, he was challenged by pitching coach Carl Willis to realize that when he stays in the zone and doesn’t try to get too fine with his pitches, hitters haven’t been able to have much success off of him. That resulted in him becoming the first Cleveland rookie to record at least 12 strikeouts while allowing no more than one hit.

Bibee watched from the dugout on Monday, studying what Williams was able to do to have so much success.

“I know he’s a very good pitcher and I think I’m right up there with him, as well,” Bibee said. “So I think seeing him succeed, and being able to take down a good lineup like that, I think just gives me that much more confidence.”

Maybe Bibee wasn’t challenged to have the same mindset as Williams this start, but he reminded himself of the same concept, continually remembering that his stuff plays against big league hitters. That resulted in him tossing seven scoreless innings while allowing six hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

“Well, that’s a couple nights in a row now with Gavin last night,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “That’s pretty special stuff. I think [Bibee] had a 28-pitch third inning, so you’re thinking, ‘OK, it’s looking like maybe it’s five.’ The kid ends up going seven. That was fun to watch.”

The third inning was a challenge for Bibee. A single to right, a bunt single and then an infield single loaded the bases with one out. But Bibee didn’t waver. To end a five-pitch at-bat, he caught George Springer looking at an 82.7 mph changeup low on the inside corner. Then he got Daulton Varsho to swing at a slider out of the zone for the third out of the frame, escaping any potential damage and demonstrating how much potential the 24-year-old righty truly has.

“I give credit to that young cat right there. He’s pitching well,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He has a four-pitch mix and we had the chance there in the third with George and Varsho, but he made big pitches there with a right-on-right changeup to George and a back-foot slider to Varsho. I think that’s the difference there.”

From there, Bibee locked in and faced one batter over the minimum for the rest of his outing.

“I think it’s more of a -- ‘Let’s just stop screwing around, let’s just kind of attack them,’” Bibee said. “If I want to go deep in this game, I have to get the pitch count down. So just trying to attack hitters more than just trying to like nibble.”

Bibee possesses the maturity of a seasoned veteran, not of a rookie with only 18 career starts under his belt. In his last eight outings, he’s pitched to a 1.68 ERA and hasn’t lost a decision. And in a time when the Guardians have needed innings with most of their starters on the injured list and another one traded before the Deadline, Bibee has been the rock of the rotation.

“I think it just attributes to my work in between starts,” Bibee said. “That’s when this kind of stuff happens. It’s not the actual day.”

Bibee, himself, is impressive. When he pitches a day after Williams turned every head in the ballpark, it makes it easy for this organization to dream about the future of this rotation, considering they became the first pair of Cleveland rookies to throw at least seven shutout innings in back-to-back games since Jeff Mutis and Albie Lopez in 1993.

The offense will need some improvements moving forward. But if these two rookies can continue to blossom, the starting rotation is in good hands.

“I think they’re understanding their stuff will play,” Francona said.