The final time Shane Bieber confronted the Yankees in a postseason sport, he gave up a house run to the second batter of the day.
On Friday, in Game 2 of the Guardians’ tilt with the Yankees within the ALDS, he waited till the fourth batter to do the identical.
Giancarlo Stanton lifted a ball over the beckoning proper discipline wall, placing the Yankees forward 2-0 after Gleyber Torres’ two-out single. For Bieber, who represented the primary hope for the Guardians not falling right into a deep collection gap, the sensation from watching this residence run needed to be worse than the final one.
In 2020, the lengthy ball he gave as much as Aaron Judge occurred in entrance of zero followers. This one to Stanton not solely occurred in a frenzied Yankee Stadium, it additionally woke the group up early, one thing that each beginning pitcher fears on this surroundings.
Stanton’s 352-foot fly ball got here after the slugger visibly disagreed with residence plate umpire Jeremie Rehak’s 3-1 name. Stanton watched, accurately, as Bieber’s cutter wrapped round and beneath the strike zone. Rehak referred to as it a strike although, bringing Stanton again to the field to trade a number of phrases. For your entire at-bat, Bieber had given Stanton pitches off the plate, seemingly OK with strolling him and mentioning Josh Donaldson.
The payoff pitch ended up proper in Stanton’s joyful zone, although. Rather than lacking vast, Bieber’s 93 mph fastball whizzed throughout the plate within the strike zone’s higher half, permitting Stanton’s superhuman power to do the remaining. With one flick of the bat, the Yanks had an early lead, Stanton’s consternation gave strategy to an emphatic bat toss, and Bieber was left questioning how far he’ll need to miss subsequent time to get the stroll he was doubtless searching for.
Donaldson then promptly grounded out on the primary pitch of his at-bat to finish the inning, solely making issues crueler for the Cleveland dugout. After that first inning, although, Bieber turned nearly untouchable. He solely allowed three extra hits, all singles, finally placing collectively a closing line that can make your entire Guardians group very joyful. Bieber completed his day with 5.2 innings, 5 hits, seven strikeouts and two earned runs, each courtesy of the Stanton bomb.
Playing in the course of the daytime didn’t assist, because the afternoon solar forged some very odd shadows over the Yankee Stadium infield. Bieber’s cutter and slider had been significantly dastardly, inflicting whiff after whiff that might be felt all the way in which within the press field.
“You start getting into the shadows, it gets to be a tough, tough day to hit,” supervisor Aaron Boone stated. “You know, I thought obviously you’re going up against Bieber, he’s going to be tough with his execution.”
While Bieber gained’t be capable of pitch for the remainder of the collection — barring a heroic reduction look on simply two days’ relaxation in a possible Game 5 — he did his job in night up the collection, which now shifts to Cleveland for 2 large video games that would wind up placing the Yankees in an early grave.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com