Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) - Baseball’s beauty is its routinely unpredictable nature. Until the final out is put away, there’s always a chance for something wild to happen.
But sometimes, you don’t have to dig to deep to understand why a game finished the way it did.
Two of the most powerful arms in baseball with no-hitter-stuff most times they take the bump, squaring off against the offenses that have the lowest team batting averages in the league … this game had pitchers’ duel written all over it from the get-go and on Saturday night, fans largely got to see exactly what they came to watch – a fabulous battle between two of the absolute best pitchers in the world.
And while Shane Bieber made Major League history on Saturday night, the Indians’ inability to fluster Gerrit Cole ultimately cost them a fourth straight loss.
The New York Yankees also won a sixth consecutive game in comeback fashion, beating the Tribe 2-1. The Indians will try to avoid a 4-game series sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Last time Shane Bieber pitched against the Yankees, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award Winner had one of the more head-scratching performances of his professional career. Bieber allowed seven runs in 4 2/3 innings and the Tribe was quickly and unceremoniously eliminated from the postseason the next night.
Saturday’s performance was significantly better, much more on-par with his typical work. He threw a career-high 119 pitches, which he joked postgame would’ve been on the low-end of his normal workload as a college pitcher. Tribe skipper Terry Francona thought he recovered well after struggling with his command in the first inning, during which Bieber worked slow and deliberately.
“I thought he pitched his heart out and I thought he was tremendous … he fought his command at times I thought, especially early, but he competed so much. Golly that was a pretty damn good effort,” Francona said afterwards.
Tito also recognized that he allowed Bieber to stay in the game longer than he might have been comfortable doing.
“I had some anxiety about it,” he said. “That was certainly his last hitter. But when a guy pitches that well and he has an extra day – he had one coming in and he has one on the next one – I thought he deserved to stay out there. But I admit I had some anxiety.”
On Saturday night, a pair of solo homers was all the damage that New York could muster against him. Bieber finished the game with nine more strikeouts against a swing-for-the-fences squad, keeping them off-balance most of the night.
While keeping in mind that they were facing one of the game’s most prolific arms, the Indians offense unfortunately continued to sputter.
Gerrit Cole thrashed his way through the lineup, fanning 11 and giving up just three hits. Jose Ramirez nearly homered to right field, instead tripling off Aaron Judge’s glove. Ramirez came home on Eddie Rosario’s soft single shortly thereafter, but that was all the Tribe could do. That single turned out to be their last base hit of the evening.
Saturday's loss drops the Tribe to 1-10 when scoring three or fewer runs this year. Even when Cole came out of the game, the Yankees feature the best bullpen in all of baseball so far this year. Through the first three games of this series, the Indians are just 2-for-29 against the Yankee relievers.
Bieber Makes Big League History
With his strikeout of New York Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka in the fifth inning on Saturday night, Bieber tied Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson with a 17th consecutive performance while recording at least eight strikeouts.
When asked postgame if he could try to put the moment into context, Bieber struggled to find the right words.
"I'm not sure I can," he said. "If I try, it wouldn't do it justice probably so I'll probably just leave it at that. But I'm having a blast, this is exactly where I want to be, I'm doing exactly what I want to do and although the end result wasn't what I would've liked tonight and what we would've liked as a team, I think I speak for all of us and say that we are blessed to be able to do what we love."
Bieber’s 48 strikeouts through his first four starts of the season were the second most through four appearances in the history of Major League Baseball – only New York’s Jacob DeGrom, who threw a complete game shutout with 15 K’s last night has outdone the Tribe ace with 50. After recording nine more on Saturday, Bieber’s 57 punchouts through five starts are the second most all-time through a pitcher’s first five starts of a season behind Noland Ryan (59, 1978).
On Saturday night, a pair of solo homers was all the damage that New York could muster against him. Bieber finished the game with nine more strikeouts against a swing-for-the-fences squad, keeping them off-balance most of the night.
Up Next
The series finale with the Yankees is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. The Indians will go with Triston McKenzie against New York's Jameson Taillon.
Shane Bieber and Gerrit Cole combined for 20 strikeouts in 14 innings as the Tribe drops its fourth straight game
