CLEVELAND, Ohio — Tanner Bibee had just retired Gleyber Torres on a pop to first base with two runners in scoring position and the Guardians trailing New York, 2-0, early in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday in Yankee Stadium.
What happened next took Bibee — and most of the baseball world — by surprise.
Manager Stephen Vogt called for Yankees No. 2 hitter Juan Soto to be intentionally walked, loading the bases for American League MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge — the guy with 58 home runs and 144 RBI in the regular season.
“They were hitting the ball around the ballpark, and we needed to stop the game,” Vogt said. “In that situation, you want to try to get a double-play ball. You want to try to get two outs with one pitch. You want to try to find a way to get out of that inning.”
But Bibee would not be the one throwing that pitch as he was lifted in favor of Cade Smith after a career-low 1 1/3 innings. Bibee said he was not expecting the call to walk Soto and load the bases for Judge, nor the early exit.
“No, not at all,” Bibee said. “My job’s to get the guy out. I don’t really care who it is at that point. I mean, whether it’s a smart move or not, that’s not my job.”
Vogt said the decision to bring Smith into the game in the second inning was based on trying to keep things from getting away too early.
“Cade’s done a great job of that all year, and he did it again tonight in a big situation,” Vogt said.
After Judge drove in New York’s third run with an RBI sacrifice fly to center, Smith struck out Austin Wells to end the inning. Vogt said the Guardians were able to keep New York down for a while after Bibee exited, and gave themselves opportunities to rally, but were unable to come up with a big hit.
Vogt indicated that despite the move, Cleveland’s confidence in Bibee is unwavering.
“Tanner’s our guy, and he was a little bit off tonight,” Vogt said. “We saw that from the first inning. In a game like today where we have the bullpen ready to go, I felt like we needed to stop it, and we did.”
Bibee told reporters afterward that he felt his stuff looked good and that he was executing pretty well. He clearly did not want to exit the game as early as he did.
“It’s tough,” Bibee said “Obviously you don’t want to go out like that, but there’s nothing you can do about it now.”
Bibee was charged with the loss, after allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. It marks the shortest outing of his major league career, regular season or postseason. His previous low was 3 2/3 innings on May 8, 2023 against Detroit.
After throwing just 39 pitches, Bibee said that if he had to guess, he would be able to return quicker than waiting for a start on normal rest, but he would not be able to assess his status until Wednesday. Vogt said bringing Bibee back on short rest is one of the things Cleveland will talk about on the series off day when the Guardians regroup at home.
“It’s definitely an option that we’re going to talk through after we see how Tanner is feeling,” Vogt said. “I know Tanner didn’t throw the ball the way he wanted to tonight, but by getting him out of there early, maybe we’ve got an opportunity to bring him back quicker.”
Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians.MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Guardians, meanwhile, have not named a starting pitcher for Game 3. Matthew Boyd is in line to pitch on regular rest, but Vogt mentioned in his pregame remarks that Gavin Williams, who has not made an appearance in the postseason thus far, could also be an option.
Vogt said the club plans to announce a Game 3 starter on Wednesday. Whoever it is, Vogt insisted the plan is for that pitcher to give Cleveland as many innings as possible.
“Our intent is always for our starter to go deep into the game,” Vogt said. “And we watch it and we see what happens.”
