Bieber, Indians outlast Giolito, White Sox 2-0 in matchup of All-Star aces
CHICAGO — Shane Bieber wasn’t sure where this ranked among his best performances. The AL Cy Young Award winner knew it was high on the list.
Bieber pitched three-hit ball over nine innings for Cleveland while Lucas Giolito nearly matched him before the Indians broke through in the 10th to beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Tuesday.
The matchup between AllStar aces sure lived up to its billing.
“I guess it was a big one,” Bieber said. “It’s special to me. It was great to know that tonight’s matchup was kind of as advertised and we were able to come out on top.”
Bieber (1-1) struck out 11 and has fanned 35 in his first three starts of the season for the second straight year. Nolan Ryan set the record with 37 in 1973 and Gerrit Cole had 36 in 2018.
“I thought he was tremendous,” manager Terry Francona said. “You pick the adjective and you can put my name to it. I thought that was one of the best-pitched games on both sides that I’ve seen in a long time. Those are two of the best. Biebs did a heck of a job.” Giolito wasn’t bad, either. “These types of games are the ones I remember, the ones that I really enjoy,” he said.
Giolito also allowed only three hits and fanned eight. He was pulled after issuing his second walk to begin the eighth inning. Bieber walked one.
“The way Bieber was pitching tonight, I didn’t have to wait in the dugout very long to get back out there,” Giolito said. “So it was like full go. Every inning, we were both putting up zeros. It was just a battle, and it’s pretty exciting, pretty fun. Just had to stay within myself.”
Garrett Crochet (0-2) came on in the 10th for Chicago and catcher Yasmani Grandal interfered with Josh Naylor leading off, putting runners on the corners.
After pinch-hitter Yu Chang flied out, Roberto Perez drove in a run with an RBI single. Pinch-hitter Amed Rosario added an RBI double.
James Karinchak worked the 10th for his first save, retiring Jake Lamb on a game-ending fly to the right-field warning track.
Before the game, Chang shared some anti-Asian tweets he received after making a throwing error in the ninth inning that allowed the winning run to score in the Indians’ loss Monday night.
Chang, who is Taiwanese, posted some of the tweets on his account while asking for tolerance. One of the messages referred to the shape of his eyes and another referred to the coronavirus.
“Exercise your freedom of speech in a right way, I accept all comments, positive or negative but DEFINITELY NOT RACIST ONES,” Chang wrote. “Thank you all and love you all.”
He included the hashtag StopAsianHate.
Soon after his posting, the 25-year-old Chang received an outpouring of positive responses and support from Indians fans and others across social media.