Guardians shut out for third straight game in series opener against Rays

CLEVELAND — The postseason dreams are shrinking and the frustration is mounting for the Guardians. Cleveland, which entered the night five games out of the American League wild card race, lost another game Monday night, falling 9-0 to Tampa Bay at Progressive Field for its sixth straight loss. The Guardians managed only two hits and were shut out for the third straight game. And after the top of the fourth, television cameras caught Stephen Vogt confronting right-hander Tanner Bibee in the dugout. As he walked through the dugout, Bibee yelled something after allowing two runs in the inning — one on a throwing error from catcher Bo Naylor — and Vogt followed the right-hander. Bibee walked away from the manager and Vogt followed the pitcher again with more words for him. "Emotions are high right now. Emotions are high with everybody," Vogt said. "Tanner's one of the most competitive fiery people I've ever been around and he came in trying to pump the boys up and I told him, 'not now, take it downstairs.' "And so we've already talked, we're good. It's one of those fiery moments that happen in competition in a long season and Tanner has been and will continue to be one of our best. And we know the competitive fire is what drives him." "I was trying to get some energy into the dugout," said an emotional Bibee. "It was probably not the right way to do it at that time, but (Vogt's) message to me was just, 'not like that or not in that time,' and he's completely right." Of Cleveland's first seven hitters, five struck out against left-hander Ian Seymour, who was making the 13th appearance of his career, and first start. The Guardians struck out 13 times on the night and haven't scored a run in 28 innings. "Everyone's frustrated," Vogt said. "We need to hit. We need to score more runs. We need to get things going on offense, and we're all aware of it." Bibee matched Seymour early, limiting the Rays to a hit over the first three innings, but things began to unravel in the fourth. Naylor misfired to third on a wild pitch, allowing Tampa to score its first run, before No. 9 hitter Bob Seymour and his .167 batting average made it 2-0 with a single. Whatever was said in the dugout didn't help Bibee, who surrendered a two-run homer to Junior Caminero to put the Rays up 4-0 with one out in the fifth. Caminero homered again in the seventh. The Guardians signed Caminero at the age of 17 out of the Dominican Republic. He had a promising first professional season before they traded him to Tampa Bay for pitcher Tobias Myers in 2022. Another former Cleveland player, Yandy Diaz (2017-18), hit a solo shot to lead off the seventh and chase Bibee, who allowed his career-high 25th homer. "First innings we're good and then I feel like I let some stuff get to me," said Bibee, whose ERA climbed to 4.73 over 26 starts. "I got through six, whether it was kind of finding a way, but no, not great — just not being good mentally. "It's no surprise. It's been rough (for me). I mean, we're almost in September, so yeah." After the Diaz homer, the game was delayed 38 minutes by rain before Caminero, who homered for the third straight game, took Tim Herrin deep to put the Rays up 7-0. His 39 homers are tied for fourth-most in major league history by player 21 or younger. Austin Hedges pitched the ninth, making his third appearance of the year and eighth of his career. The Guardians have sold out Progressive Field six times this year, but apparently fans are beginning to lose interest. A crowd of only 16,325 fans took in the series opener against the Rays and few remained after the delay. Still, the players are trying to keep the faith. "It's all you can do at this point," Bibee said. I feel like fundamentally we know we're a good baseball team. It's just the baseball hasn't been going our way at this time, so we gotta figure out what to do for me to pitch better and for all the other areas. Everyone wants to do better at this point. I think that's just what we all need to figure out." "I think in this moment it's really important for us to keep our heads on straight," Naylor said. "Understand that, while we are at the back half of the season, there's a lot of baseball left. There's a lot of opportunities to go out there and win every day. And I think that if we do that, that's where good things are going to come from." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.