A crazy eight: Shane Bieber continues recent hot streak in win over Royals
Shane Bieber has certainly picked a great time to channel his inner 2020 Cy Young Award self.
Just over a season and a half removed from winning the biggest award in pitching, the Bieber has is mowing hitters down with the best of them for the Guardians.
He was at it again Tuesday in a 4-1 win over the Kansas City Royals and continued an eight-game hot streak during which he's been among the finest in the game.
Again.
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Bieber’s rise is certainly needed with a bullpen game set for Wednesday and 40 percent of the starting rotation on the injured list in Zach Plesac (broken hand) and Aaron Civale (forearm inflimation).
“We wanted to stay away from [Emmanuel] Clase tonight,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said of his All-Star closer. “We wanted to stay away from Trevor [Stephan], too and that really helps.
“I didn’t think he had his best curveball, but with his fastball command and then his cutter was really effective, some of the balls they squared up were hit in the middle of the park. This is a big park, so that helps, too.”
Bieber allowed one run − a solo home run to Salvador Perez − on four hits in eight innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
“My cutter kind of saved me tonight,” Bieber told Bally Sports Cleveland. “It’s playing pretty well to lefties and righties. I’m using more to righties than normal and was having trouble kind of finding the zone. I think the strike percentage was OK, but the execution wasn’t where [catcher Austin Hedges] and I wanted it to be. So being able to throw that cutter in the zone and just trying to be competitive was it for us tonight.”
Bieber is second fastest pitcher to 800 strikeouts
Bieber didn’t give up a hit after the fourth, but what’s more impressive is the fact his 804 career strikeouts are the second-fastest in major league history.
Only Yu Darvish (99 games) did it faster. Bieber has done it in 108 games.
Bieber, 27, joins a list of Cleveland pitchers that includes Sam McDowell, Bob Feller, CC Sabathia, Trevor Bauer and Luis Tiant to reach 800 strikeouts before the age of 28.
Bieber's outing not only saved the bullpen but gave the Guardians a game-and-a-half lead over the Minnesota Twins and a three-game lead over the Chicago White Sox.
What’s crazy about all of this is the consistency Bieber has had in his past eight games.
Ignore the 9-8 record this season and look more at what he’s done since July 29.
Bieber entered that start against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 3.55 ERA.
Eight-game stretch for Bieber is impressive
In August, he was 3-1 with a 1.62 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 33⅓ innings.
He has lost two of his past three starts, but it was because of a well-documented lack of run support.
In the aforementioned eight starts, Bieber is 5-2 with a 1.39 ERA. He’s struck out 61 and walked eight.
“He’s extremely intelligent about his craft,” Francona said. “I’ve thought that from the day he got here. The more experience the guys get ... he pitched. He really pitched.”
Those showings have dropped his ERA significantly. He finished Tuesday night's outing with a 2.98 ERA and moved his career record against the Royals to 5-0.
“I’m getting there,” Bieber said. “I know I keep saying that. I’ve been saying that since April, but I am so it has been a little bit of a battle but it’s a fun challenge to kind of embrace and ultimately try and let everything go when you go out there and just eat up innings and put the team in a position to win. I think our offense stayed on [the Royals] tonight early and piled on a little bit late and that was huge.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Staying on top: Shane Bieber's consistency gives Guardians stability
