Shane Bieber dominates, leading the Guardians to a 2-1 victory over the Rays in game one of their Wild Card series.
The pitching was great on both sides, but Bieber definitely outdueled Shane McClanahan. Bieber’s stuff looked fantastic from the very beginning, his command was on point especially with the breaking stuff. He struck out 2 in the first inning, then allowed his first base runner in the second inning via the walk, but quickly erased it with 2 groundouts. Bieber’s command never waivered, it was extremely consistent all game. He got a ground out and 2 flyouts in the third inning. Then followed it up with a 2 strikeout fourth inning, he faced the minimum through four. Bieber allowed his first hit of the game in the fifth inning, a slapper back up the middle. He cleaned it up with a pop out, flyout, and another strikeout. So far every strikeout for Bieber has come on a breaking ball. Biber allowed his only run of the game in the sixth, in the form of a Jose Siri solo homer. Bieber got 2 more strikeouts on breaking balls in the seventh, he looks otherworldly. In the eighth inning, Bieber got a soft groundout and another strikeout on a breaking ball. He allowed a soft base hit into left field, only his 3rd hit allowed in the game. This would be the end of Bieber’s outing, his final statline, 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 8 K. Bieber shut down the Rays offense, he had a .153 xBAA. His slider was his best weapon, he struck out 5 with it and had a .103 xBAA on it. It has been one of his best pitches all year, with a -1.3 RV/100 and a 39.4% whiff rate during the regular season.
Emmanuel Clase came in to get a 4 out save, and that is exactly what he did. He finished off the eighth inning with a broken bat liner to third base. Clase continued to be shut down in the ninth inning, striking out Yandy Diaz on 4 straight sliders, then getting a soft groundout and a flyout to end the game.
The Rays offense had no answer to the Guardians pitching. Harold Ramirez, Isaac Paredes, and Jose Siri were the only Rays with hits, Jose Siri had the only extra base hit.
The Guardians offense wasn’t much better, putting up a .164 xBA as a team. Amed Rosario and Jose Ramirez both had 2 hit games, four other Guardians also had hits. Jose Ramirez scored the only Guardians runs, hitting a 2 run bomb in the bottom half of the sixth inning.
The limited Guardians offense was due to AL Cy Young candidate, Shane McClanahan. McClanahan got a lot of soft contact in the first, and the only hit he allowed took a tough hop on 3B Yandy Diaz. In the third, he allowed a base hit to the 9 hole hitter, Myles Straw, then got a double play ground ball to erase it but 1B Ji-man Choi failed to scoop a low throw from the 2B Taylor Walls. McClanahan then got another grounder two pitches later to get out of it. McClanahan had a strikeout in each of the first 3 innings. He allowed back to back hard hit one out singles in the fourth inning, but got a double play ball to 3B to get out of the inning. McClanahan got another strikeout in the fifth inning, which was a quick 7 pitch inning. In the sixth inning McClanahan got a little wild inside of the zone, he allowed a base hit to Amed Rosario on a curve that was left elevated then allowed a 2 run homer to Jose Ramirez on a changeup that was left up in the zone. In McClanahan’s final inning of work he got 2 flyouts to right field and a strikeout. McClanahan’s curveball was working all game long, 4 of his 5 strikeouts came on the curve, and it had a .095 xBAA in this game. His curveball has avoided solid contact all season long, with a miniscule 27.3 Hard Hit%.
Garrett Cleavinger came into pitch the eighth inning. He got a flyout to CF, then had a 9 pitch AB in which he struck out Amed Rosario on a sinker. He allowed a two out single to Jose Ramirez, but bounced back with a 3 pitch strikeout.
Both Shane’s pitched very well, but Shane Bieber was on a whole other planet. His cutter and slider combined for a 47 CSW% and he made the Rays look lost at the plate the entire game. The Rays look to bounce back in game 2 with Tyler Glasnow toeing the slab. While the Guardians will try and put the Rays away with their young stud Triston McKenzie on the bump.