CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber was the best pitcher in baseball this year, and it wasn’t close. Even in an abbreviated 60-game regular season, his numbers were eye-popping: In his 12 starts, Bieber never allowed more than three runs, nor did he fail to complete at least five innings.

Perhaps that was because he had yet to face an offense like that of the Yankees, who led the American League in scoring during the regular season.

While Game 1 of the new best-of-three Wild Card Series on Tuesday had the makings of a pitchers’ duel between Bieber and the Yankees’ ace, Gerrit Cole, it instead became a one-sided slugfest. It was Cole who pitched like baseball’s best — 13 strikeouts over seven stout innings — while the Yankees hung seven runs on Bieber, the presumptive A.L. Cy Young Award winner, and chased him from the game after four and two-thirds innings.

With their 12-3 dismantling of the fourth-seeded Indians, the Yankees are one victory away from advancing to the American League Division Series at a neutral site in Southern California. Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco will face each other in Game 2 on Wednesday, but the difference may once again lie at the plate.

Source: New York Times

Powered by NewsAPI.org