Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee deliver clutch starts for Guardians rotation (Podcast) (2024)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians starting rotation needed a boost, and a pair of young right-handers delivered. Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee each pitched into the sixth inning over the weekend, giving Cleveland chances to win on Saturday and Sunday as the Guards earned a crucial split of their four-game series against the Twins.

On Monday’s podcast, Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga look at what Williams and Bibee did for Cleveland’s starting rotation and how their efforts helped ease the burden on the club’s top-ranked bullpen.

Listen and read along with an AI-generated transcript of the podcast below.

Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Joe Noga (00:14):

Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes Hoey The Guardians split the series in Minnesota after getting swept in the double header on Friday. They come back and they win Saturday and Sunday. Sundays win. Sort of a little scare there at the end for Emmanuel Klos A, but they get the job done and they leave Minnesota with the same lead that they went into Minnesota with at three and a half games in the division. So no harm, no foul. As the Royals now go into Minnesota and the guardians come home to take on the Cubs, what’d you take away from just the 10,000 foot view of this series over the weekend against the twins in Minnesota?

Paul Hoynes (01:11):

I liked the fight in the Guardians, as you said. They start Friday by getting swept in the double header that’s extended their losing streak season long, losing streak to seven games. Their lead into Central is down to one and a half, but they come back to earn a split with a two one win Saturday night and a five to three win Sunday, and it just goes to show you, Joe, that’s the advantage of being in first place. You don’t have to sweep every series if you can split it and you still end up on the positive side and the twins are still beating their head against the wall.

Joe Noga (01:56):

Yeah, the twins still have to work that much harder to pass you up now even harder because the Guardians own the season series, the head to head with seven wins in the season series so far. It’s essentially an extra game lead on the twins in the division because head to head, they have the tiebreaker.

Paul Hoynes (02:22):

Yeah, that’s a big point. I didn’t even think about that. But yeah, seven to two advantage and it seems like that series has been a lot closer than seven to two. Joe doesn’t, especially coming off this weekend where these were two really good teams and they played four really good games. I mean, these were tough. If you like baseball, you had to like this series because it was no quarter given by either team

Joe Noga (02:51):

And to hear Steven Vo talk, even in the last few games of the Seven Game losing streak we’re playing Well, I like the way we’re playing. We’re playing good baseball, we’re just not getting the results. Ah shucks, we’re not winning. But yeah, you get that sense that there were good games, they were fun to watch games and now that the Guardians won the last two yet you get a lot better feeling getting on that plane and coming home to Cleveland than if they had lost three out of four in that series. But take us back to Friday. What a day that Friday was for the Guardians for you covering the team there in Minnesota. Double header early, a split double header. You had to be at the ballpark basically for 14 hours all day and it starts off with the guardians making a whole bunch of surprise roster moves. Maybe not complete surprises or shocks, but they call up Will Brennan and the DF Aion Curry and make a couple of other moves to get Alex Cobb on the roster so that he could start one of the games. What was your reaction when you found out that they were releasing Avion Cur Curry?

Paul Hoynes (04:10):

Yeah, I felt bad for Avion. I mean, the guy did everything. They asked of him for parts of three different seasons. He relieved. He started, he pitched long, he took one for the team. It seemed like whenever they were trying to save the bullpen, he was out there pitching two, two and a third innings in blowout games. I think if they had another option, they probably wouldn’t have done what they did, but Joe, I’m glad he got claimed and by the Marlins, and I’m especially glad he didn’t get claimed by the White Sox.

Joe Noga (04:47):

Yeah, there you go. That would’ve been the typical move would’ve been to have to see him a bunch more times against the White Sox, but that didn’t happen. The Marlins took him and maybe he gets an opportunity there to define a role for himself instead of being a swing guy and a bullpen guy, a starter, maybe he just focuses on starting and where he can find some success there, or maybe they make him a full-time reliever and his stuff plays up and he gets better there. But what a great guy, what a swell guy to talk to. I was hoping maybe he would land with Atlanta with all of their pitching problems and he could go home for him. That would’ve been a great fit, but the Marlins took a shot on him, so good luck to Aviana. I’m sure we will see him find success there somewhere down the road. Speaking of finding success, the Columbus Clippers were in St. Paul playing the St. Paul Saints this week, this past week, and Will Brennan was tearing the cover off the ball, hitting the ball all over the yard for aaa, Columbus, and he got the call up and was back in the lineup for the Guardians in the Friday double header. Just how excited was Will Brennan to make the short drive across the river from St. Paul to target field?

Paul Hoynes (06:22):

Yeah, Joe, he really did a nice job for, he went down to Columbus and did what he had to do. He got some at bats, I think he hit what, 3 75, some crazy number. He was swinging a bat. Well, he comes up, he starts the first game of Friday’s, double header goes three for four. He had a big double Sunday night in Sunday’s, five to three win in four run winning that that helped him to help Cleveland put the game away. It’s really good to see him swinging the bat and getting another chance, Joe, and it looks like he’s taken advantage of it.

Joe Noga (07:02):

And now that they’ve got Lane Thomas and Lane Thomas obviously has not produced the results that they’ve sort of expected or hoped for since they traded for him. Will there be more of a platoon out there in right field? You’ve also got John Kenzie Noel to think about. Thomas can play a little center as well. He can move around different positions. How do you expect that sort of platoon or that, how do you expect vote to get everybody at Batson playing time among those three guys?

Paul Hoynes (07:35):

Yeah, that’s going to be difficult. We saw Noel’s kind of been relegated to the bench. He had to start Saturday, but it’s so tough for a rookie to do that, to be on the bench and try to stay prepared when he’s used to playing every day. So I’m not sure exactly how they’re going to work Noel into the games, but right now it looks like the main platoon will be Thomas and Brennan. The way Brennan is swinging the bat and Thomas is struggling, there’s no doubt about it. You can tell he’s trying to put his best foot forward. I think he’s putting a little pressure on himself, new guy coming into a new team, a first place team. You’re trying to do a little too much and Steven Vo was talking about him Sunday morning and the message to Thomas is just be yourself. Take a deep breath, relax and just be the player that you know are.

Joe Noga (08:35):

Yeah, you can’t hit a five run home run every time you get up to the plate. And I think it looks like what Lane Thomas is trying to do, his approach is still pretty good. I think he expects to be doing more than he’s doing and maybe just give him a little time to get hot and to get to where he can be because we know that the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark, to run the bases to be effective is there. We just haven’t seen too much of it yet. Out of Lane. Thomas, take us back to Friday game two of the double header against the twins and the situation with the Bach on Tim Heron and Steven Vo getting his first ejection in a major league game as a manager, what did voter have to say for himself after going out there and what did you see on the play? Because I go back and I look and I didn’t see a BA for Tim Heron, but maybe there was something I missed.

Paul Hoynes (09:47):

Yeah, I did not see a BA either. I talked to Austin Hedges, he didn’t see a Bach, of course Heron said he didn’t do anything wrong, but he had his back toward Christian Vazquez and I saw Vazquez come all the way down. Halfway down the third baseline, their third base coach was moving. I think Hedges was moving around trying to set the defense. So I think what happened, I think Jim Wolf, the home plate umpire got Deked Joe. I think he got deked into thinking there was movement by Heron and called the Bach, and that’s a tough, tough call to make in that situation considering the importance of the series. And right then it’s a five three game, then you take that Bach takes it to six to three and pretty much puts the game away and I think Vote had to come out. He had to get thrown out of that game. And it was funny, the next morning vote was talking about it. He goes, me and Wolfie, he called. He’s got a nickname for the played umpire. We’re good friends. He’s one of the best friends I have on the field, so I’ve got no problem with them. I just disagreed with the call. But the next thing he said, I scared my kids. They’d never seen me that angry.

Joe Noga (11:08):

Oh, he had to make a phone call home to apologize to the family. That’s a good one. I agree. I could read his lips, I could see him. He said Wolfie Wolfie is trying to get his attention over and over again. He was calling him Wolfie. He’s a catcher. He caught for so long. You’re back there, you’re a duo with that umpire. You basically have a good relationship. You talk to them, you protect them because guys are throwing a hundred miles an hour at their faces. So yeah, he’s going to have good relationships with the played umpires. A lot of the guys in the league and hey, maybe that’s why the guardians are getting so many favorable calls this year. I think the stats will prove that they get a lot more of out of the zone strike calls than basically any team in baseball right now. But this wasn’t a strike zone situation. This was a box situation. I knew as soon as that bot got called and I had seen it live, I didn’t see a replay yet, but I knew as soon as Vote came out of the dugout that he was getting tossed because at that point you had lost six in a row. You were about to lose your seventh in a row. That was the pressure valve needed to be released.

Paul Hoynes (12:27):

Yeah, no doubt about it. And the funny thing was Joe, Tim Herron, who looks like a choir boy who never says Boo, he was yelling at the umpire Hedges, had to put his hand on his chest and push him back toward the mound to keep him in the game. So that was interesting. We haven’t seen that. I haven’t seen that side of heron. And he said after the game, he said, I should apologize. I should have just kept my mouth shut. And he appreciated the vote coming out to protect him and the team and to keep him in the game.

Joe Noga (13:04):

Yeah, that was exactly the right thing to do was to go out, protect your pitcher and get tossed. I could see him maybe turning to Craig Alvarez and saying, okay, well here I go, because that was the right situation for Stephen v’s. First ejection, I think all the way around. And it worked because they come out Saturday and they play inspired. Tanner Bibe comes, I’m sorry, Gavin Williams comes out and gives them exactly what they needed in terms of getting deep and showing the kind of the signs of being who he needs to get to be down this stretch run. If they’re going to have success, they’re going to rely on Gavin Williams and he came through for them in Saturday’s game.

Paul Hoynes (13:54):

Yeah, just a good start by Williams six innings, one run, four hits, three strikeouts, the dominant stuff through 96% of the fastballs he threw were for strikes, and the vote said that was a key to that game. And the thing I liked, Joe, is Williams goes six innings on Saturday, then they bring Bobby out, roll him out on Sunday, he goes five and two thirds and gets the win. So there hasn’t been too many times where the guardian’s rotation has put consecutive wins together this year, and that was good to see and it’s good. I think it bodes well for the last what 40, 50, 55 games left on in the season to have those two guys get on a run because the bullpen needs to help and that rotation certainly can use some games where the starter deep into a ball game.

Joe Noga (14:52):

Yeah, Ben Lively has been giving you what he’s been giving you all year, and if you can get anything out of either Boyd or Cobb in these final 45 games or so, then you’re going to be in good shape. You just need to give that bullpen some time to rest, and it’s just a breather every now and then, so they’re not working four innings a game every night out. That would be ideal. So obviously Williams has the good game on Saturday. Bobby comes back and he hadn’t pitched in 12 days, didn’t know what to expect out of Tanner Bibe and Tanner Bibe comes through with his third straight, just dominant outing against the twins this year.

Paul Hoynes (15:38):

Yeah, just really an encouraging start by Bibe five and two thirds, six hits, one run, one earned, five strikeouts, no walks. He pitched out of some jams, especially in the fifth inning where Vasquez hits the ball off the top of the wall. Then Castro fouls with a single, he’s got runners on second and third and strikes out LA to end the inning. I thought that was a big turning point in that game, Joe.

Joe Noga (16:09):

Yeah, the Guardians scored a lot of their runs in this series via the home run, and they gave up quite a few home runs actually as well. But the ball that Christian Vasquez hit was inches from being over the fence and out of the ballpark. It stayed in the yard, and that made all the difference in that inning for Bobby to get out of that inning without giving up a run, just encouraging to see that he’s healthy and that he was on a pitch count. He throw 84 pitches in that game, but as long as they’re keeping an eye on him, if he can go out and do what he did against Minnesota on Sunday, they’ll be in good shape moving forward. Speaking of moving forward, we want to remind our listeners, if you’re tuned in the best way to follow along with Guardian’s updates throughout the weekend when they make a bunch of roster moves when they’re in the middle of a pennant race, you can subscribe to Guardian Subtext. It’s directly text messages sent directly to your phone, skip social media and get all the information from Hoey and from me on a daily basis. It’s 3 9 9 a month. To subscribe, go to cleveland.com/subtext or send a text message to 2 1 6 2 0 8 4 3 4 6 to get signed up there, Zi. The cubbies are in town beginning tonight at the ballpark down in Progressive Field. Ben Lively on the mound. IGA is going to go for the Cubs.

(17:54):

It’s a big series. The Cubs are still sort of in the chase in the American League, are in the National League Wild Card and somewhat in the division there. Just anytime the Cubs come back to a progressive field, you can’t help but get nostalgic for 2016, but this is a completely different sort of team and a situation and opponent. Now just what are we looking forward to in this series with the Cubs,

Paul Hoynes (18:25):

Joe? I think Kleeman is 15 and 14 in Interleague play, so this series probably is a toss up, but the interesting part is are the pitching matchups To me, we haven’t seen, they haven’t seen him Inga, they haven’t seen Asad, I don’t think maybe they saw him last year and I always screw this guy’s name up Ion

Joe Noga (18:51):

Jameson Ion,

Paul Hoynes (18:53):

Jameson ion. I think the last time they saw him was maybe in the postseason against the Yankees in the division series.

Joe Noga (19:00):

And I remember you asking Tito, Tito asking you how you pronounce his name. It was a clip that circulated from mlb.com and you still haven’t gotten the name right, but it’s all right Zi. He’ll be there on Wednesday, Jameson Ty on, and it’ll be Alex Cobb, correct. On Tuesday we get to see Matthew Boyd.

Paul Hoynes (19:25):

Yeah, Matthew Boyd making his 2024 debut. They announced that after the game Sunday, the guardians did, and it’s going to be interesting, Joe, they have to make a move obviously to get him on the 26 man roster, but he has done all he could to get ready for this moment, Joe, he’s made five rehab starts with Cleveland since signing at the end of June. He’s one and oh with a 0.83 ERA in those five starts, so he’s ready to go and there’s nothing more he can do from the rehab front. It’s now time to see what Boyd can do at the big league level. He has a pedigree. He’s Ed in the big leagues for a long time and I’m sure he is anxious to get going and excited to get going.

Joe Noga (20:20):

Yeah, there’s a little bit of wiggle room with the 26 man roster right now. They moved Carlos Carrasco to the 15 day injured list, so you’re kind of stuck with him there. But as far as, is Joey Cantello still on the 26th? Man, is that a move that can be made to

Paul Hoynes (20:43):

Get Well, he was the 27th guy, so they sent

Joe Noga (20:45):

Him down. He was the 27th. Okay. Yeah, he was the guy for the double header. Maybe somebody’s got to go out of the bullpen in order to get Boyd on, but we’ll see what happens prior to Tuesday’s game. We’ll get back with you and take a look at the series opener against the Cubs tomorrow morning right here on the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast Twine. We will check in with you then. Good deal, Joe.

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