Cleveland Sports Forum

Tanner Bibee strikes out six, but Guardians’ rally stalls in 5-4 loss to Giants

Updated: Mar. 10, 2026, 8:25 p.m.|Published: Mar. 10, 2026, 7:00 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Right-hander Tanner Bibee, in line to be the Guardians’ opening-day starter on March 26 in Seattle, threw 3 2/3 innings Tuesday in a 5-4 spring-training loss to the Giants at Goodyear Ballpark.

Bibee allowed three runs, but they were all unearned because of three Cleveland errors. Bibee was in line to make his first opening day start in 2025 but came down with a case of food poisoning and was unable to pitch.

The errors came back to haunt the Guardians, who staged an ill-fated three-run rally in the ninth.

Bibee, facing a Giants lineup that featured several minor leaguers, struck out six and allowed four hits. He threw 71 pitches, including 52 (71%) for strikes.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the third. Jared Oliva doubled with two outs and scored when he stole third base and came home on catcher David Fry’s throwing error.

The Guardians tied the score at 1-1 in the third on consecutive doubles by Angel Martinez and Steven Kwan against Giants starter Seymour Carson with one out.

The Giants broke the tie with three two-out runs in the fourth. Bryce Eldridge opened the inning with a single. Bibee retired the next two batters before Parks Harber sent a grounder to shortstop Gabriel Arias for what should have been the third out.

Arias, however, threw wildly past first as Eldridge scored and Harber went to second. Arias was charged with two errors on the same play, one on the wild throw to first and the second on the failure to catch first baseman CJ Kayfus’ throw to second after he retrieved the ball.

Steven Perez relieved Bibee and Tyler Fitzgerald greeted him with a two-run homer for a 4-1 lead.

The Giants made it 5-1 in the ninth when Trevor Stephan walked former Cleveland catcher Eric Haase with the bases loaded. Stephan, coming back from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, opened the inning with two quick outs before running into trouble.

The Guardians tried to rally in the ninth as Dom Nunez hit a two-run homer to make it 5-3. They made it 5-4 when San Francisco’s Ricardo Estrada was called for a bases-loaded balk with Johnathan Rodriguez at the plate. Estrada, however, struck out Rodriguez to end the game.

The Guardians are 9-9-1 this spring. The Giants improved to 14-3.

Next
The Guardians are off Wednesday. RHP Gavin Williams is scheduled to throw a minor league game at the Goodyear complex so he can stay on his regular turn in the rotation.

<