Guardians shake off slow start for Tanner Bibee, roll by Orioles

CLEVELAND — Tanner Bibee got off to a miserable start Monday night, allowing singles to the first three batters and five runs within the first three innings. With the way the Guardians offense is going, it was no big deal. Cleveland tied the game each time Bibee faltered before pulling in front for good on a leadoff home run from Kyle Manzardo in the sixth and beating Baltimore 10-5 in the opener of a four-game series at Progressive Field. Jose Ramirez tied it with a three-run homer in the first before Bo Naylor knotted it at 5 with a solo shot in the fifth. Manzardo broke the tie with his 16th of the year — seven coming on the first pitch. The Guardians entered the night averaging 5.9 runs over the last 10 games and notched their ninth win in 11 games. "I felt like we took the last road trip (prior to the All-Star break) and didn't slow down," manager Stephen Vogt said. "Our guys are buying into the plan and they're sticking to it. We can't stop, we can't slow down. We have to keep pushing." Naylor and Manzardo joined four others with multihit efforts for Cleveland, which broke it open by scoring four times in the seventh — twice on bases-loaded walks. "I feel like that's our kind of baseball, never trying to shoulder too much pressure, just trusting the guy next to you to do the job," said left fielder Steven Kwan, who returned after missing the first three games of the second half with a lingering right wrist injury. "Defense does its job, pitching does its job. It's cliché, but that's 'Guards Ball.'" Ramirez's homer was his 20th, giving him 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in a season for the seventh time in his career and fifth consecutive year. The seven 20-20 seasons is tied for fourth-most in major league history behind Barry and Bobby Bonds (10 each) and Bobby Abreu (nine). "I mean, he's the GOAT," Kwan said of Ramirez. "That's just another accolade for him to hang on the wall. I'd be lying if I said I even noticed it. He's probably not even thinking about it either. He's got bigger and better on his mind. That just shows how great, how high a caliber player he is." "We talk a lot about Jose and we run out of adjectives and we all love watching him play," Vogt said. "That's one of the big reasons we love our jobs here is we get to watch him play. The consistency of 20-20, keeping your body fresh to be able to do it, the longevity that he's done it for, it just is so impressive just with how consistent he is." Ramon Laureano, who spent parts of 2023 and '24 with Cleveland, drove in four of Baltimore's runs off Bibee with a two-run single in the first and a two-run homer in the third. But after Laureano's homer, Bibee locked in and allowed just one more hit, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced over seven innings. "Tanner could have cashed it in," Vogt said. "The first inning happened quick. There's a couple of times he could have broken tonight and he didn't. He kept us in the game, went deep, gave us seven strong. "The way he was pitching those last few innings, there's no way he was coming out before that, so outstanding job by Tanner. We talk about the growth, we talk about the development. That's a game that a lot of pitchers wouldn't fight through, and Tanner did and it was outstanding." Cleveland left eight on base over the first four innings and 15 for the game, going 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position, but tied it for the second time on a two-out homer from Naylor, who went deep for the first time since June 6. "It's definitely something I'm gonna take and try to move forward with, just keep the confidence going," said Naylor, who entered the night batting .166. "Anytime you can get a swing like that, it's gonna help put the mind in the right place for sure." The Guardians' hottest stretch of the season has come on the heels of a 10-game skid. "I feel like it had to roll our way after those 10 games at some point," Bibee said. "I feel like that was one of the toughest stretches of baseball we've been a part of. But I feel like we all knew it was going to swing back our way eventually and we just had to be ready for it and to ride as long as we can." Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.