CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians have spent much of the first half of the season looking for a dependable No. 5 starter for their rotation to slot in
behind Corey
Kluber
Jarius
Wright Jersey , Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger.
The Indians think they might now have found their No. 5, and he will be on the mound Friday night at Progressive Field against the Detroit Tigers.
He’s 23-year-old right-hander Shane Bieber. A fourth-round pick by the Indians in the 2016 draft out of UC Santa Barbara, Bieber (1-0, 3.97 ERA) will
be making his third start for the Indians, which he landed with his strong
performance in the minor leagues this year.
In a combined 12 starts at Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, Bieber was 10-5 with a 1.29 ERA. In 76 innings, he struck out 72 and only walked six.
Bieber is a premier strike thrower. In 2017, pitching at three minor league levels, he was 10-5 with a 2.86 ERA. In 173 innings, he had 162 strikeouts and
only 10 walks.
Bieber’s last major league start came June 17
Taylor
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and gave up one run, 10 hits, with seven strikeouts and one walk.
“He comes as advertised. He threw a lot of strikes, with one walk. He gave up a lot of hits, but because he didn’t walk anyone, and executed a lot of good
pitches with men on base, he came away allowing just one run,” Indians manager
Terry Francona said.
Bieber has made two spot starts for the Indians this year, but after his last one, team officials decided to give Bieber a longer look in the rotation.
“This is the first time he’s pitched for us and not gone back down (to the minors) after he
pitched
Julius
Peppers Jersey ,” Francona said. “I think settling into a routine at the
big-league level will be good for him. To be able to watch guys like (Corey)
Kluber during the week will really help. The people in our player development
department rave about his temperament, his makeup and his work ethic.”
The Indians come into Friday’s game riding a four-game winning streak in which they have outscored their opposition 28-6. That includes a three-game
sweep of the White Sox in which they outscored Chicago 24-5.
Bieber’s mound opponent Friday night will be right-hander Mike Fiers, who has pitched well against Cleveland during his career.
In two starts against the Indians this year, Fiers is 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA, having allowed two runs and eight hits in 13 innings with 13 strikeouts and two
walks. In six career starts against Cleveland, Fiers is 3-1 with a 2.04 ERA.
Fiers’ last start was a 4-3 Tigers win over the Chicago White Sox on June 15. Fiers worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and eight hits with four
strikeouts and one walk. He did not get the decision.
Although the Tigers are three games below .500 at 36-39, they come into Friday’s game in second place in the American League Central, five games behind
the division-leading Indians. Detroit had a five-game winning streak snapped by
losing both games of a brief two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday with
Cincinnati.
WASHINGTON — A pair of old friends will reconnect when the Boston Red Sox visit the Washington Nationals on Monday night.
Former teammates Rick Porcello (9-2, 3.60) of the Red Sox and Max Scherzer (10-4, 2.04) square off for the first time in the opener of a three-game
series.
Porcello and Scherzer spent five seasons together with the Detroit Tigers
Mike
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Francisco Giants.
Since leaving Detroit, Porcello won the 2016 American League Cy Young Award and Scherzer is making a strong case for his third straight National League Cy
Young. Both have been aware this matchup was coming.
“Looking forward to it. We’ve been texting back and forth,” Porcello told the Boston Globe. “We’ve had a good time with it and I’m sure we’ll both get a kick
about going against each other once the game starts.”
Scherzer is looking for his first win since June 5, though he’s pitched well enough to win each of his past four starts, allowing two earned runs or less in
each outing. The Nationals are 1-3 in those starts and were shut out in each
loss.
“I think everybody’s been punched in the face before of not having success,” Scherzer told The Washington Post after his last start, a 1-0 loss to the
Marlins. “This is the big leagues; they are going to keep coming down your
throat and keep attacking you.”
Scherzer, Washington’s only dependable starter of late, is 4-4 with a 6.05 ERA in 10 starts versus Boston.
Porcello allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings last time out in a no-decision against the Angels.
He’s 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his lone start against Washington, an eight-inning effort in April of 2015.
The Nationals (42-40) squandered an early 3-0 lead in Philadelphia on Sunday and fell 4-3 in 13 innings on Andrew Knapp’s pinch-hit walk-off home run as
Washington dropped a second straight weekend series to their division
rivals.
Washington managed only four hits in eight innings against the Philadelphia bullpen in the finale.
“Offensively, we’ve got to do more
Matt
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simple. We score early and then we can’t coast. We can’t take our foot off the
accelerator. We got to keep going.”
The Nationals are now 6-15 in their past 21 games and fell six games behind Atlanta in the NL East.
In each of their last nine losses, they’ve scored three or fewer runs.
“We’ve got to start striking out less,” manager Dave Martinez told MASN, “putting the balls in play, driving in runs when we have the ability to drive in
runs.”
Boston (56-29) finished a three-game series against the Yankees on a forgettable note Sunday night, getting routed 11-1 behind starter David Price as
New York blasted six home runs, including three by Aaron Hicks.
Price allowed eight runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox dropped two of three and travel south percentage points behind the Yankees in the AL East.
