Cole leads Bronx Bombers to third straight victory in duel with Bieber
By: Sean Fitzgerald
Tags: Cleveland Indians, Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, MLB, New York Yankees

Cole leads Bronx Bombers to third straight victory in duel with Bieber Sean Fitzgerald Apr 25·4 min read

Photo Credit: Gabe Collura (Black Squirrel Radio).

Shane Bieber. Gerrit Cole. A dynamic clash for a crowd of 8,817 on a cloudy Saturday in Cleveland.

Both pitchers are considered among the game’s elite, and the victor would be decided by whoever blinked first.

In the duel of aces, Cole came out on top and the Yankees won 2–1 and on a three game roll.

Bieber struggled a bit with his control out of the gate. The reigning AL Cy Young winner allowed a one-out single to Giancarlo Stanton and walked Aaron Judge before striking out the next two Yankees hitters.

Cole dominated during first trip to the mound, working a one-two-three first inning on a groundout and two strikeouts, his fastball touching 99 mph.

In his second inning of work, Bieber made short work of the bottom of the lineup, sending the side down in order with two strikeouts and a liner to Andres Gimenez to end the top of the frame.

The same could be said of Gerrit Cole, whose only tough out was Eddie Rosario on eight pitches.

A duel of aces for a cool Saturday night game.

The trend would continue outside of a Roberto Perez double in the third, with each ace going blow for blow, strikeout for strikeout. The game came as good as advertised with the top billing, only one hit allowed between the two premier pitchers in the sport.

With one down in the fourth and on the second pitch, Jose Ramirez absolutely crushed a ball to deep right-center that Judge nearly went for a home run that ended up as a triple on review.

Eddie Rosario put the first run on the scoreboard by lining an RBI base hit to left-center and scoring Ramirez and spot Bieber a one-run lead.

Franmil Reyes ended up striking out but Eddie Rosario stole second narrowly, a play the Yankees challenged and lost to keep the fourth inning going before Cole struck out Josh Naylor.

Bieber quickly let go of that lead on an Aaron Hicks solo shot to the bullpens to lead off the fifth and the same going for the Indians Achilles heel all weekend in Rougned Odor, blasting his bomb 426 feet before forcing LeMahieu into a groundout to end the damage.

Bieber mostly dominated in his seven innings of work, giving up the two runs on four hits, three walks and whiffing nine and the loss. Bieber needed a career-high of 119 pitches to finish his outing, 74 good for strikes.

Cole similarly mowed down the Tribe hitters he faced. He threw seven innings, allowing only one run on three hits, while fanning 11 hitters. He didn’t issue a walk on 111 pitches, 75 of them finding the zone for the victory.

With Cole finally out of the game at the start of the eighth inning, The Indians found a spark of hope. Roberto Perez drew a one-out walk off left-handed reliever Justin Wilson and advanced to second on a wild pitch to pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow.

That hope was short lived with Luplow popping out on a full count and Wilson exiting the contest for Jonathan Loiasiga, who saw Amed Rosario pop-out to end the inning and finished out the game for the save.

James Karinchak comes on to pitch the ninth inning. He finished with three strikeouts. (Photo Credit: Gabe Collura, Black Squirrel Radio).

It was the closest to feeling like a regular game atmosphere in the ninth inning with James Karinchak striking out three Yankees batters after Bryan Shaw fired a scoreless frame, but the bats didn’t come out to play.

— — — Tidbits — — —

Bieber in elite company

Shane Bieber’s reign of dominance continues. He’s struck out 57 batters through his first five starts. He passed Randy Johnson (55 in 1999) and ended up behind only Nolan Ryan (59 in 1978) for the record of most strikeouts through the first five starts of a season.

He also tied Johnson’s all-time MLB record with 17 consecutive starts with at least 8 K’s.

Sunday’s probables

Triston McKenzie gets the nod for the Tribe tomorrow. Jameson Taillon will take the hill for New York