Game #40 Observations: Plenty of History for Cleveland on Sunday

The Cleveland Indians won their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, taking the rubber match against the Brew Crew, 4-1, on Sunday.

Shane Bieber was dominant yet again, striking out 10 over 5 innings, and allowing an earned run in the 5th that had originally been unearned due to an error from César Hernández. Bieber moves to 7-0 on the year.

Carlos Santana opened scoring with a double in the bottom of the 1th, scoring José Ramírez. Jordan Luplow knocked in what proved to be the winning run in the 4th, scoring Francisco Lindor on a seeing-eye single through the right side. Santana knocked home Ramírez again in the 6th, and Lindor scored again on a double-play ball from Franmil Reyes to close out the scoring. Brad Hand earned his 11th save of the year after an inning apiece from Phil Maton, Dominic Leone, and Nick Wittgren.

With the win, Cleveland moves to 25-15, keeping them a half-game back of the Chicago White Sox entering the week at the worst. Cleveland begins a four-game set against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on Monday.

Too Dominant?

There are few things to criticize about Bieber, who joined Bob Feller on Sunday as the only Cleveland pitchers to strike out 8+ hitters in their first 9 starts of a season. He recorded 10 against the Brewers, but only lasted 5 innings. Despite 40 strikeouts in his last 4 starts, Bieber has not made it out of the 6th inning in any of them.

So why parse apart a stretch in which the American League Cy Young front-runner allowed 3 runs in 4 starts? Because it seems that Bieber’s ability to put hitters away is preventing him from going deep into games. Of course, in two of those games, Bieber uncharacteristically walked three hitters, which extended his day both times.

The good news is that Bieber is being kept at a pretty hard pitch count in order to preserve him for the postseason. The righty has thrown at least 97 pitches in each start in 2020, topping out at 106. He threw 103 on Sunday.

Bieber also gets better each time through the order, meaning he will be able to go deeper into the night when it matters. Opposing batters have posted a .234, .223, and .152 wOBA against him the first three times through.

The actual concern here is how much Cleveland can count on their bullpen. While they have posted a 74 FIP- this season, second-best in baseball, the team’s younger relievers have wilted a bit of late. Maton has struggled to find the zone in his last two outings, and James Karinchak is getting tagged hard. Hand has not fully bounced back from his dead arm from last season, and Óliver Pérez is vulnerable to right-handers.

Do not get it twisted. Shane Bieber is still the best pitcher in baseball. Writing something doubting the 25-year-old feels insane after the way he painted the corners early on Sunday. This is just a slight concern, but no one will tell you that avoiding contact altogether is better than finding bats to get deeper into a game.

Kobe!

Bieber’s day felt like it could end up in a no-hitter through two innings on Sunday, not only because the hurler was surgical, but so was his defense. Do you know how every no-no seems to have a game-saving defensive play?

José Ramírez got that out of the way early.

All-timer

Again, this day was not all Bieber’s. Though he made the history with Feller, Santana joined Rapid Robert’s teammate in the Tribe books. With his 1st inning double, the first baseman tied Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau for 7th all-time with 495 extra-base hits in a Cleveland uniform.