Shane Bieber struggles with command in 6-2 Cleveland loss

Shane Bieber did not have his best stuff today. Just look at those spin rates!

Read into that whatever you will (there is plenty of context about this, such as the Commissioner’s inaction, just waiting for you, reader) but Cleveland’s ace came under heavy fire and allowed five runs to the Mariners in fewer than six innings. Bryan Shaw stopped the bleeding and Trevor Stephan kept things stable for as long as he could. The reinforcements just never came.

Or, maybe they did, but they stared into the sun, whiffed grounders, picked at grass, lollygagged, and so on. There is part of me that wants to write, “Hey, two errors isn’t even that bad for these guys!” as a small silver lining; As such, I now know that this defense is just awful, you guys. Josh Naylor lost a ball in the sun. There were sunglasses on his cap. He just, you know, didn’t wear them.

Incompetence is entertaining as long as we are in contention, I suppose.

Cleveland failed to do much at the plate in support of their starter. Bradley Zimmer scored on an Amed Rosario single. In the bottom of the ninth, Eddie Rosario scampered home on a wild pitch. That’s all, folks!

Corner Pieces

• An honest question: Do you enjoy watching a version of baseball where defense is just ... up to chance?
• With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning today only, I believe that the shift should be outlawed. José Ramírez smashed a grounder that would have been a single without it.
  So it goes.
• Bradley Zimmer’s on-base percentage is .366 and he has now stolen four bases in as many attempts. He is also an elite defender.

V A L U E

• Ernie Clement made an appearance in today’s game. He struck out looking in place of Amed Rosario.

Wait, What?

Tayor Trammell made a beautiful sliding catch in center field. Pleased with himself, he flipped it toward his throwing hand and bobbled it onto the grass in front of the entire planet.

Never hot dog it, kids. It ain’t the same thing as celebrating.

ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY is to lose a ball in the sun because you failed to put on the sunglasses that are literally on top of your head. Josh, whatcha doin’ out there little buddy?

I will say that he put up a legitimately good at-bat with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth. He swung on a full count to protect the edge of the plate and made good contact, but it went directly to the right fielder.

Baseball.

What’s Next?

Matthiessen Von Hapsburg-Lyons will be your Master of Ceremonies for tomorrow’s game against Baltimore. Do not let him initiate land reforms, it is a trap.