Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber pitches against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of a baseball game Thursday 30 July 2020 in Minneapolis. (Photo AP / Jim Mone)
By the Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) – Cleveland’s Shane Bieber broke the top league record by strikeout in the first two starts of a pitcher’s season, beating 13 Minnesota Twins out of eight innings in the Indians’ 2-0 victory Thursday night.
Bieber (2-0) played 14 out of six unmarked innings on Friday against Kansas City. His 27 strikeouts in the two games correspond to the record set by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in September 1954 during the first two beginnings of his short career.
Faced with a Twins team that came in with the second best differential in baseball, Bieber allowed three singles in his eight innings.
Francisco Lindor provided all the offense Cleveland needed with a two-stroke humerus in the third inning off Jose Berríos (0-1). After Jose Ramirez scored with two outs, Berrios left a 0-2 shot on the plate and Lindor led him over the fence to the right for his second homer of the season.
YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 6
BALTIMORE (AP) – Aaron Judge hit a three-shot humerus in the ninth inning after New York had an initial lead of five, and the Yankees wiped out an improvised two-game streak.
Luke Voit scored his first career grand slam for the Yankees, which lengthened his streak against Baltimore to 18 games and clinched his 17th consecutive Camden Yards victory. New York swept six consecutive streaks from the Orioles early last year.
The judge’s second humerus in two games – a shot no doubt short of Cole Sulser (0-1) – came after Pedro Severino led Baltimore ahead with a brace in the eighth against Jonathan Loaisiga (1-0).
Zack Britton worked in ninth place for his second save.
After Voit connected in a first five-shot inning against John Means, Hanser Alberto made a round for two in the lower half of JA Happ. Rio Ruiz returned home for the third time in five games with one man in the second to reduce the deficit to 5-4.
RED SOX 4, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) – Christian Vázquez hit two other homers and Martín Pérez gave the Boston patchwork rotation a necessary pass.
Pérez (1-1) passed four passes and some wobbly defenses behind him, allowing only two shots as he scored five in 5 2/3 innings for his first win with the Red Sox.
Vázquez connected twice on Steven Matz (0-1), including a two-shot shot on a 0-2 shot in the fourth that brought Boston 3-2 ahead.
Boston loaded the bases without anyone in the ninth and added an insurance run when Edwin Díaz hit José Peraza with a shot.
Brandon Workman, on the mound for the third consecutive day after throwing 30 throws on Wednesday, has made the last three outs for his second save – both in the past two nights.
ROYALS 5, TIGERS 3
DETROIT (AP) – Trevor Rosenthal launched a ninth unscored for his first save since 2017 and Kansas City has passed Miguel Cabrera’s first multihomer game since 2016.
Once much closer to St. Louis, Rosenthal has struggled with his health and effectiveness in recent years, ending 2019 with a 13.50 ERA in 22 appearances with Nationals and Tigers. When he withdrew JaCoby Jones onto a grounder to end the game, he gave his glove a little celebratory touch.
The offense of the royalty came late. Whit Merrifield scored on Salvador Perez’s grounder to break a tie by 2 in the seventh. Bubba Starling added double the following inning which gave Kansas City two insurance runs that she needed.
Cabrera hit the solo murders in the first and eighth, and Jonathan Schoop added one for Detroit in the fourth. It was Cabrera’s first multihomer game since September 30, 2016 in Atlanta, and went deep three times in the first seven games this year after hitting just 12 home runs in 2019.
Greg Holland (1-0) won in relief for the Royals and Jose Cisnero (1-1) suffered defeat.
BRAKES 2, SPOKES 1
ATLANTA (AP) – Max Fried retired the top 14 batsmen from Tampa Bay and combined with three lifters on a four batsman to guide Atlanta.
Dansby Swanson had a single for scoring in the second two-shot inning of Atlanta.
Fried (1-0) hit seven and walked one while allowing a run in 6 2/3 innings. The left corner improved to 4-0 in four interleague starts.
Luke Jackson and Shane Greene teamed up for four outs before Mark Melancon finished ninth for his second save.
Ryan Yarbrough (0-1) conceded two runs on just two hits with three passes in 6 1/3 innings.
NATIONALS 6, BLUE JAYS 4
WASHINGTON (AP) – Michael A. Taylor’s second homer of the season helped “visiting” citizens fight in the fight against Hyun-Jin Ryu and beat Toronto from home before both teams headed for a mini break caused by the coronavirus.
Kurt Suzuki delivered a two-stroke double and Asdrúbal Cabrera added a double RBI off Ryu (0-1), who gave up on Taylor’s two-shot at the direct center which he celebrated with a socially spaced escape dance in the fourth.
Erick Fedde, making his second start in place of a Stephen Strasburg sidelined, gave up two heats in 3 1/3 innings. Ryne Harper (1-0) followed and scored five outs for the win. Daniel Hudson launched ninth to earn his first save of the year.
National team third base Carter Kieboom reached base four times – two singles, two walks – and scored twice.
Teoscar Hernández has returned home twice, giving him four during this series of four games in Washington, and Cavan Biggio has made a single hit for Toronto.
Neither team will play again until Tuesday, a four-day interval that is normally unheard of in baseball, where clubs can spend weeks at a time without respite.
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