Former UCSB star pitcher Shane Bieber struck out 10 and allowed one run in five innings to earn his seventh win of the season for the Cleveland Indians on Sunday at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
Bieber had shut out the Milwaukee Brewers for the first four innings before the Brewers broke through in the fifth for their only run in the Tribe’s 4-1 victory. Bieber, who threw 103 pitches, allowed the one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk to improve to 7-0. His earned run average for starting pitchers is an American-League best 1.25.
“In the fourth and fifth I just got elongated and I had to work a little bit more than I would have liked,” Bieber told reporters after the game. “But that’s what happens when you walk a guy and then give up a couple hits in a row and have to work out of it.”
Indians acting manager Sandy Alomar Jr. said Milwaukee’s approach the second time through their batting order forced Bieber to throw more pitches, but in the end he was able to make the right adjustment to escape damage.
“They were just looking in one area and gave up part of the plate,” Alomar said. They were more looking for spin and reacting to fastballs. A couple of the hits they got, they were late on the fastball, but it seemed like they were looking for a spin and reacting.”
In other Major League Baseball news involving a local player, Santa Barbara native Jeff McNeil belted his first home run of the season for the New York Mets in their 14-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field in New York. McNeil also reached base two other times with a walk and a hit by pitch. He’s hitting .291 for the season. Mets starter Jacob deGrom tossed seven masterful innings to earn his third win. The hard-throwing right-hander allowed one run on three hits with 12 strikeouts and two walks in lowering his earned run average to 1.69.
Closer to home, the Angels completed a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros with a 9-5 victory on Sunday. Anthony Rendon homered in the third inning and Jared Walsh and Justin Upton contributed key run-scoring hits in the eighth, when Los Angeles scored four times to break a 5-5 tie.
The Dodgers hosted the Colorado Rockies at 7 p.m. on Sunday. A final score was unavailable at press time.
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