CLEVELAND, Ohio — Question to Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee:
“What’s the key for you as you prepare to start Game 5 on Saturday in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees?”
Bibee: “That’s a good question. I think having an edge, having some anger to it.”
Question: Is that hard for you?
Bibee: “No.”
Cleveland’s ace will be pitching on short rest and with a chip on his shoulder in Game 5, and his manager, Stephen Vogt, is here for it.
“He’s been our best pitcher all year,” Vogt said. “I can’t wait to get him back out there. He feels good. He feels ready. He wants to pitch. We’re excited to have Tanner back out there.”
Bibee, who threw 39 pitches before a surprise early exit in a Game 2 loss to New York on Tuesday, said he feels good and is ready to go. Bibee pitched on short rest in college when he would occasionally start Friday games and come out of the bullpen on Sunday.
Bibee said Vogt told him right after Game 2 that it was a possibility he could be starting Saturday, so the right-hander prepared like he was going to. But that did not mitigate the frustration the 25 year old felt after allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings in the Bronx.
That edge and that anger that Bibee felt after Vogt took the ball from him will be focused squarely on the Yankees come Saturday.
“He’s given me some leash earlier on in the year, and it just comes down to trying to win the game, but I get that,” Bibee said. “It’s a tough job, for me and for him. It’s just some stuff I’m not going to like. Some stuff I’m going to like. But it’s not my job to like it. It’s my job to get outs.”
Vogt said he could sense the frustration from Bibee immediately, but also made room for the emotion of the moment.
“I don’t ever expect Tanner to want to come out or be okay with coming out of any game ever,” Vogt said. “It took him a day to really get back, but right away when I talked to him about possibly starting Game 5, he wanted it. Tanner is somebody I trust. Tanner is somebody I want with the ball in his hands at all times.”
Vogt said he knows there are times in the postseason when a manager has to make unpopular decisions, and he made one that night. But Bibee is taking the mound with all of Vogt’s confidence
“I can’t wait to watch him pitch again.”
