Frustrating. Shane Bieber Settles Down. Cleveland 3 NY 2

Frustrating loss.

The Yanks jumped all over ace Shane Bieber in the top of the 1st inning for 2 runs — and looked on the verge of scoring more runs in that inning and in the 2nd. But like all great aces before him, Shane Bieber squeeked through and settled down and then shut the Yanks down through 7 innings.

Domingo German rope-a-doped the Cleveland lineup into the 4th — struggling with his curveball not curving.

Colten Brewer came in and was the Yankee of the day — getting out of a bases-loaded-nobody-out situation in the 4th and pitching 3 shutout innings.

But Cleveland got a run off Ian Hamilton and that was ballgame. The Yanks got a leadoff triple by Gleyber Torres in the 8th but were unable to score him.

Frustrating.

“I felt our guys had really good at bats and hit the ball on the nose against him throughout the night,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Bieber. “But he did manage his way through, especially from a pitch count standpoint — it’s a testament to the kind of pitcher he is. But I thought we swung the bats well against him we were just not able to break through.”

1. Yanks Jump All Over Bieber Early

Shane Bieber was 13-8 2.88 last year, his 5th terrific year in the bigs. He led the AL in wins and ERA in the shortened 2020 COVID season (8-1 1.63). The 6’3 righty is considered one of the best pitchers in baseball — but the Yanks jumped all over him in the top of the 1st.

Gleyber Torres led off with a double, and Aaron Judge walked to extend his consecutive on-base streak to 43 games.

Anthony Rizzo singled to right to load the bases with nobody out, and Giancarlo Stanton just missed a Grand Slam — rocking a double off the top of the wall in left center — a double for 2 runs. NY 2 Cleveland 0 with 2nd and 3rd nobody out still.

But Willie Calhoun SMOKED a ball to 2nd — for an out, and Jose Trevino grounded into a fielder’s choice —  Rizzo out at home — so the rally for further runs was snuffed.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the 2nd with a single, and after Anthony Volpe struck out, Gleyber Torres walked to again put the heat on. But Kiner-Falefa was thrown out at 3rd on a double steal attempt, and Judge struck out to end the inning.

2. Bieber Settled Down

And that was it for the Yankee offense. Like many great aces before him — most notably Jim Palmer — if you don’t get to them early you won’t get to them at all.

Bieber settled down and pitched shutout ball the rest of the way: 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 4 K’s, 3 walks and the win to go 1-0 2.37.

Anthony Volpe hit a long fly ball to the left-field wall in the 5th — for an out; he just missed. Volpe made the last out of the 7th with a long fly ball to the right-field wall — for an out; he just missed again. He went 0-3 on the day.

3. German’s Curveball Wasn’t Curving

Meanwhile Domingo German, the Yank starter, was getting through the Cleveland lineup but struggling — his curveball not curving sufficiently to get the strikeouts he normally gets from it. Cleveland hitters kept fouling off his curve and running the count or walking.

Andres Gimenez led off the 2nd with a drag bunt that he popped up — but German dropped it and fumbled it — an error to allow Gimenez to get on. He promptly stole 2nd and came around to score on a sac fly. NY 2 Cleveland 1.

German walked the first two batters of the 4th, and an RBI double by Mike Zunino sent German to the showers with 86 pitches thrown. NY 2 Cleveland 2 — with 2nd and 3rd nobody out.

4. Brewer the Yank Hero

That’s when Colten Brewer came in — and he promptly walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with nobody out!

But he got an infield grounder — force out at home plate, and then a tailor-made double play ball to 2nd to get out of the inning!

Brewer pitched the 5th and 6th shutout ball — a tremendous performance by the pitcher the Yanks picked up at the start of the season from Tampa Bay for cash considerations. Colten never pitched in a major league game for Tampa — he was trying to make their team in Spring training and last pitched in the majors for the Red Sox in 2019-21.

5. Cleveland Scores on Hamilton

Ian Hamilton came in for the 7th and walked the first 2 batters he faced — Steven Kwan and former Met Amed Rosario. A fielder’s choice grounder moved the runners up and a Josh Naylor sac fly put Cleveland ahead 3-2.

6. Yanks Tease in 8th

Gleyber Torres led off the 8th with a triple off James Karinchak — and it looked certain the Yanks would tie the game.

But Karinchak got Judge to pop up, and struck out Rizzo and Stanton to end the threat.

Ace closer Emmanuel Clase shut the Yanks down in the 9th for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

A story of the game was a ballboy that Cleveland supplied and had don a Yankee uniform — who clearly did not meet the Yankee organization’s rules for hair length.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471167

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*