Bibee (6 scoreless IP) stars in final spring outing
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Opening Day roster is ready, and so is Tanner Bibee.
While the Guardians spent Saturday putting together the final pieces of the roster they’ll take into the season opener on Thursday in Oakland, the right-hander looked sharp in his final Spring Training outing.
Bibee, who finished second in 2023 AL Rookie of the Year voting, threw six shutout innings with one walk and five strikeouts in Cleveland’s 5-0 win over a split-squad Diamondbacks lineup in Scottsdale. Bibee recorded 10 of his 18 outs by way of strikeout or keeping the ball in the infield.
“Command of the strike zone,” Guardians skipper Stephen Vogt summed up of his 25-year-old. “[He] pounded it, he’s getting ahead, finishing guys quickly, really efficient with his pitches. He had everything working for him.”
Hunter Gaddis and Jaime Barria kept the D-backs quiet even after Bibee’s exit. The two allowed just one hit over their combined three innings, with no walks. Barria fanned four in his two frames on an afternoon the arms would team up for 11 strikeouts.
With back-to-back shutouts plus the tail end of their Thursday win over the Royals, Guardians pitching has now thrown 20 straight scoreless innings.
The Cleveland offense also kept its hot hitting going, and did so against Arizona’s Zac Gallen, next week’s Opening Day starter who finished among the top three NL Cy Young Award vote-getters in 2023.
The Guardians touched Gallen for three in the top of the first. Leadoff man Brayan Rocchio lasered the game’s first pitch for a double to center, and later came around to score on an opposite-field single from Bo Naylor to quiet the sizable crowd enjoying the afternoon contest.
“We’re putting good swings on the ball, but I really like the way we’re running the bases and our situational hitting,” Vogt said. “It’s been really, really good the past few days. If we do that well, we’re gonna put up crooked numbers.”
Left fielder Will Brennan went 3-for-4 with a triple on the day. First baseman David Fry walked twice, singled, and scored three times.
Fry, Brennan and Gabriel Arias, batting in the 4-5-6 spots in the order, went a combined 6-for-11 with three RBIs.
With Spring Training in its last remaining days, the Guardians return to Goodyear on Sunday to take on the Reds with lefty Logan Allen scheduled to start.
“We’re ready to go,” Vogt said of the regular season, which is just five days away. “These guys have been putting in energy and effort all spring. We’ve seen it from Day 1 and they’ve kept it through today. They’re gonna continue for the next three days until we head to Oakland.”