Bieber streak rolling along

On a night when Shane Bieber’s pitch count climbed much faster than his strikeout total, he still came out on top.

That’s why he’s an ace, an AllStar and the reigning Cy Young winner.

“He competes like crazy,” =Indians manager Terry Francona said.

Bieber pitched out of some early trouble before extending his own strikeout record and César Hernández hit a two-run homer, sending the Indians to a 3-2 win over the Cubs on May 11.

Bieber (4-2) struck out eight and has now fanned at least that many in 20 consecutive starts, a major league mark he builds on every time out. The right-hander’s streak was in jeopardy, but he got Nick Martini for strikeout No. 8 in the seventh — on his 117th pitch.

“He made some mistakes,” Francona said. “I also thought he threw some strikes maybe that weren’t called that didn’t help. That’s part of the game.

“But you look up and he’s 6 2/3 and two runs and pitched pretty damn good.”

Bieber wasn’t as sharp as usual, giving up nine hits, a homer and needing a career-high 121 pitches to go 6 2-3 innings. But Bieber was satisfied and thankful for help — the Indians turned three double plays behind him and four overall.

“My stuff hasn’t been exceptional like the beginning of the year right now, so to be able to go out there and you got one goal in mind and that’s to win,” said Bieber, who has allowed four extra-base hits in his last two starts.

James Karinchak finished the seventh and worked the eighth. Emmanuel Clase gave up two singles in the ninth, but got Matt Duffy to bounce into a game-ending double play for his seventh save.

Hernández homered in the fifth off Adbert Alzolay (1-3), who matched Bieber for six innings.

José Ramírez added a solo homer for the up-anddown Indians, who have been no-hit twice but won seven of eight.

Eric Sogard homered for the Cubs, who made Bieber work hard and were close to chasing him several times.

“We had some really good at-bats throughout the game,” Manager David Ross said.