'Everyone's frustrated': Emotions run high as Guardians work to shake funk

CLEVELAND -- Tanner Bibee made his way off the field after the top of the fourth inning on Monday. When he got back inside the Guardians’ dugout, he shouted what appeared to be an impassioned message in a moment of frustration.

It was unclear who the message (which was shown on the club’s TV broadcast) was delivered to, if anyone. But it did not take an expert lip reader to understand the sentiment. The moment drew the attention of manager Stephen Vogt, who was quick to confront Bibee in the middle of the dugout.

“Emotions are high right now. Emotions are high with everybody,” Vogt said. “Tanner is 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.’”

“His message to me was just, ‘Not like that. Not in that time,’” Bibee said. “And he's completely right.”

Bibee noted he was trying to inject some energy into the dugout. That moment came amid the Guardians’ 9-0 loss to the Rays at Progressive Field, which marked a continuation of Cleveland’s August swoon.

The Guardians (64-66) have dropped nine of their past 10 games, a precipitous slide that has taken them from the precipice of holding a postseason spot to being in danger of fading out of the picture. They were a half-game out of the final American League Wild Card spot on Aug. 14. They are six games back after Monday’s loss.

Cleveland also has been shut out in three consecutive games for the first time since June 12-14, 1991. The Guardians’ scoreless streak is 28 innings; they last scored in the eighth inning of Friday’s loss to the Rangers.

Bibee's dugout moment followed a fourth inning during which the Rays scored twice to take a 2-0 lead, with the benefit of some unfortunate moments. Junior Caminero (who later hit a pair of homers) singled to open the inning and stole second base with two outs and Hunter Feduccia at the plate.

The ballpark’s scoreboards said the count on Feduccia was 3-2 when Caminero took off, but it was actually 2-2. Because of the confusion, middle infielders Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio were not positioned to cover second when catcher Bo Naylor got up to make a throw.

“It was just a really messed up play,” Vogt said. “Hard to fault anyone in that situation, but we need to be better than that.”

Bibee’s next pitch, a 3-2 sweeper, cut hard down and inside for ball four. Naylor corralled it on a backpick, and Caminero took off for third. Naylor’s throw was beyond the reach of José Ramírez. Caminero scored as the ball got into left field.

“As I see him go. I feel like I had a chance to get the play done,” Naylor said. “Obviously, as I'm picking my head up and picking up Hosey, I see [Caminero] taking off toward the bag, so I tried to make a throw to kind of lead him. I just got a little bit ahead of him.”

Bibee got out of the fourth after he allowed a pair of singles and another run. Given the dugout incident, Vogt noted that he and the right-hander hashed things out postgame and “we’re good.”

“It's one of those fiery moments that happens in competition in a long season,” Vogt said. “Tanner has been and will continue to be one of our best, and we know the competitive fire is what drives him.”

Bibee was charged with five runs on eight hits (including two homers) with three walks and three strikeouts over six innings. It marked his longest outing since he went seven innings on July 21.

“The first three innings were good, and then I feel like I let some stuff get to me,” Bibee said. “We got through six, whether it was kind of finding a way. Not great.”

Asked to clarify his point about stuff getting to him, Bibee said: “I think not letting stuff fall off my shoulders pretty much is what I’m saying.”

For as tough as the fourth went, the Guardians’ offense was held to two hits. They have scored 18 runs over this 10-game stretch. For comparison, Cleveland scored 15 runs during its 10-game losing streak that spanned June 26-July 6.

“We are frustrated. 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. We're all working through it, and it's going to take all of us individually, doing our best. And I know we're going to continue to do that day in and day out, but we've got to get some offense going.”