A night to remember
Shane Bieber couldn’t have imagined the Tuesday night night he had.
Cleveland starting pitcher Shane Bieber scored a trifecta this week. He was tapped to fill in as a lastminute replacement for the Texas Rangers’ Mike Minor in this year’s All- Star Game, then pitched a perfect fifth inning and won the Ted Williams MVP Award. The American League won 4- 3.
Bieber wasn’t on the original All- Star roster, but entered in the top of the fifth and struck out the side on 19 pitches.
Carlos Carrasco, the Indians right- hander who was recently diagnosed with a form of leukemia, was saluted in the fifth inning as part of Baseball’s “Stand Up to Cancer” campaign.
The 32- year- old stood in the third- base coach’s box, flanked by four All- Star teammates and Indians manager Terry Francona.
White Sox
Work crews began extending the protective netting to the foul poles at Guaranteed Rate Field, a step the team is taking after a couple of high- profile injuries this season. Chicago said the majority of the work should be completed Wednesday and the netting will be in place when the team returns home July 22 to host the Miami Marlins.
Elsewhere
The independent Atlantic League became the first organization to let a computer call balls and strikes at its All- Star Game in York, Pa. Plate umpire Brian deBrauwere wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and relayed the call upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar to define the strike zone. He crouched in his usual position and signaled balls and strikes. “Until we can trust this system 100 percent, I still have to go back there with the intention of getting the pitches correct.”