Bieber fires 1-hitter for 10th win
Indians 4, Blue Jays 0
TORONTO — In a season that’s already seen Shane Bieber etch his name in the Cleveland Indians history books, the 24-year-old appears to be playing a game of “Can you top this?” with himself every time he takes the mound.
On Wednesday, the All-star Game MVP carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against Toronto before surrendering a ground-rule double to Blue Jays leadoff hitter Eric Sogard in a 4-0 Indians victory at Rogers Centre.
It was Bieber’s second career shutout following his 15-strikeout effort against Baltimore on May 19 in Cleveland. The one hit allowed is a career best for Bieber, who gave up just two hits twice this season in outings against Minnesota on March 31 and Toronto on April 5.
Indians pitchers have tossed an American League-best 11 shutouts in 2019, but Bieber said there was no indication in his pregame warmups that he had no-hit stuff.
“That’s very rare,” said Bieber, who struck out 10. “I know in a lot of no-hitters guys are like ‘I was shaky in the bullpen’ whatever the case may be. That was kind of the case tonight. (Catcher Kevin Plawecki) and I looked at each other and it was just like, ‘Let’s find a way to get it done.’ Fortunately we were able to do that.”
Bieber (10-3) faced the minimum number of batters through six innings despite walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to lead off the second. Guerrero was erased on a doubleplay grounder, and Bieber cruised through the next four innings, retiring the next 13 consecutive hitters.
Bieber and Plawecki were able to make adjustments early to Toronto’s approach on offense.
“They were sitting slow and soft early,” Bieber said. “We kind of recognized that and were able to throw some fastballs in some offspeed counts to get them off balance and make them think a little bit.”
He worked out of trouble in the seventh after giving up Sogard’s double and hitting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. With the go-ahead run on base, Bieber got Guerrero on a fly out to center field and struck out Justin Smoak to end the threat.
Francisco Lindor doubled, stole third and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Oscar Mercado to give Bieber a 2-0 advantage in the eighth, and the Indians added on in the ninth when Jose Ramirez scored from third on a check-swing RBI groundout by Jordan Luplow. Greg Allen’s two-out single reliever Wilmer Font plated Jake Bauers for a 4-0 lead.
Plawecki doubled in Allen for a 1-0 lead in the fifth.