After a rough debut
Josh Gordon Jersey , Cleveland Indians rookie Shane Bieber has found his routine.
Edwin Encarnacion and Lonnie Chisenhall hit back-to-back homers, Bieber pitched six strong innings and the Indians beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on
Wednesday night.
Bieber (3-0) struck out seven to become the seventh pitcher in baseball’s modern era to strike out six or more batters in each of his first four major
league starts. After giving up four runs in 5 2/3 innings in his first outing,
Bieber has given up just two runs in his last three starts and lowered his ERA
to 2.22.
”It’s just being able to fall into a routine and just get a little more comfortable within that routine and within the clubhouse here and with the guys
and all that,” Bieber said. ”That goes a long way to being able to establish
what you want to do.”
The Indians avoided a series sweep and have won eight of 10. Cleveland starters improved to 17-2 with a 2.26 ERA across 26 starts in series finales,
including wins in their last nine decisions.
”For a young kid when runners are on and things start to happen, he seems to pitch more maturely than his age would indicate,” Indians manager Terry Francona
said. ”He starts throwing his breaking ball, gets some chase, doesn’t panic,
game doesn’t speed up. That’s a real nice trait for anybody
Tre'Davious White Jersey Youth , let alone a kid that’s got four major league starts.”
Bieber jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Jack Flaherty in the fourth for a double, his first major league hit.
Jose Martinez snapped Bieber’s scoreless innings streak at 14 innings with a one-out RBI single in the third.
”I thought he had a good breaking ball,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Bieber. ”It must have been a little different from than what guys have seen
lately, you could tell some of the swings even in counts where they might have
been looking for it might have been off a bit.”
Encarnacion and Chisenhall gave the Indians a 2-0 lead in the second, marking Cleveland’s fifth back-to-back home runs this season.
Francisco Lindor walked and Michael Brantley doubled to spark a two-run third that extended the Indians’ lead to 4-0. Tyler Naquin doubled home another run in
the sixth.
Francona credited a loose atmosphere after the Indians dropped the first two in the series.
”It’s not necessarily about being silly but it’s about you don’t want to just be tight,” Francona said. ”We already lost a couple tough games and it’s nice to
come back and play a good one with a day off tomorrow and a long flight.”
Flaherty (3-3) went four innings, his shortest outing this season as the Cardinals had their four-game winning streak snapped. It followed perhaps his
most dominant start, in which he carried a no-hitter for 6 1/3 innings against
Milwaukee on Friday.
”Those two home runs were missed spots and I just wasn’t able to execute,” Flaherty said. ”They hit some balls that fell.”
Matt Carpenter walked, doubled and scored a night after scoring five runs and getting five hits.
TRAINING ROOM
Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow contusion) threw a bullpen session and will throw about 65 pitches on a rehab assignment Saturday at Double-A
Akron.
Cardinals: SS Paul DeJong (left hand fracture) is scheduled to meet with doctors Thursday with the hopes of being cleared to head out for a rehab
assignment.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (7-5
Donte Jackson Panthers Jersey , 2.44 ERA) will kick off a three-game series against Oakland and RHP Paul Blackburn (1-2, 8.83 ERA) on Friday. Bauer
is 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA in five career starts against the A’s.
Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (8-2, 2.69 ERA) will get the start as St. Louis hosts Atlanta and RHP Julio Teheran (5-5, 4.52 ERA) in the first of a three-game
set Friday. Mikolas threw 2 1/3 scoreless relief innings in his only career
appearance against the Braves on Aug. 15, 2012.
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When Brad Stevens accepted the Celtics head coaching job five years ago, he didn’t allow himself to get caught up in thinking about how he could add his
name to the franchise’s rich history.
He was too busy trying to figure out how to avoid being buried under it.
”You realize that if you’re going to break records here, you’re probably going to break bad ones,” he recently said. ”Because none of the good ones are
reachable.”
While achieving Red Auerbach status may not be on Stevens’ radar, in just his fifth season there’s no question the 41-year-old is also beyond being the
wide-eyed former Butler University coach who arrived in Boston.
In a timeframe that has often already swallowed up most first-time NBA coaches, he’s managed to endear himself to a championship-driven city by helping
Boston make an improbable run back to the Eastern Conference finals.
The Celtics seemingly had their championship hopes derailed following the season-ending injuries to both of their offseason additions in Gordon Hayward
and Kyrie Irving.
Yet
Jamal Adams Jets Jersey , Boston won 55 games during the regular season and increased its win total for the fifth consecutive season under Stevens.
Despite having a roster that was down to just 11 healthy players by the end of their second-round win over Philadelphia, the Celtics enter their conference
finals rematch with Cleveland on Sunday with a 7-0 record at home this
postseason.
They are also the first team in NBA history to make it back to this point without their leading scorer from the regular season (Irving).
Most of the NBA community was taken aback after Stevens failed to receive a single vote from his peers when the National Basketball Coaches Association gave
out its coach of the year award. The honor went to Toronto’s Dwane Casey, who
was fired Thursday after his team was swept in the East semifinals by the
Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stevens has always downplayed the attention placed on coaching awards. He said that he thought Casey deserved the honor and didn’t expect him to be
without a job for long.
Boston’s successes this season aside, Stevens said comfort remains a commodity this profession.
”I don’t think that I would ever define anybody in the coaching or playing shoes probably as comfortable,” he said. ”You’re just focused on what’s next.
But it is basketball. There’s only so much you can do.”
But it’s also clear that one of the reasons that Casey lost his job was the Raptors‘ inability to challenge the Cavs in the postseason. Toronto was also
swept out of the playoffs by Cleveland last season.
Most of the credit for Boston’s run thus far surely belongs to veteran Al Horford and the Celtics’ corps of young players, including Terry Rozier, Jaylen
Brown and rookie Jayson Tatum.
Stevens agrees with that assessment and has remained true to his style by blending into the background in public, instead waiting for the huddle or
practice to make his voice heard.
He believes his team’s mental toughness and grit have carried it more than anything he’s done.
Horford said Stevens hasn’t shied away from putting their young players in pressure situations.
”I think a lot of our guys have been thrown into the fire. I think it’s been designed that way so guys can just develop and learn as they go,” Horford said.
”But I think that one of the things that helps them is the way that coach helps
them prepare and the way that he teaches them the game.”
There is also at least one person watching from afar who thinks a lot of the credit belongs to Stevens. And it just happens to be the same player he will
spend the next few weeks trying to stop: LeBron James.
From Stevens’ ability to draw up plays out of timeouts, to his management of late-clock situations
Cheap Isaiah Oliver Jersey , to getting the best out of his roster, James has long been a fan.
”I think they are one of the most well-coached teams in our league,” James said. ”No matter who has played for them, he can put guys in position to succeed
and get the most out of whoever has been in their lineup over the past few
years. It’s not just this year.”
Stevens said he’s focused on living in the moment.
”From our standpoint, I feel like it’s been a lot of fun,” he said. ”We talked about it prior to the playoffs; nobody should love a challenge more,
nobody should have more fun doing it. I think our guys have done a good job with
that.”
And though he may never say it, so has their coach.
—
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Independence, Ohio contributed to this report.
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