Struggling Pirates no match for Shane Bieber, Indians

With a struggling offense and several starters sitting out, the last thing the Pittsburgh Pirates needed was to face one of baseball’s best pitchers.

Shane Bieber showed no mercy.

The right-hander had 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings, as the Cleveland Indians beat the Pirates, 2-0, on Thursday night at PNC Park to sweep their three-game series.

Bieber (5-0) allowed six hits and no walks and worked his way out of a sixth-inning jam before exiting. He has more victories this season than the Pirates (4-17), who will host the Milwaukee Brewers for three games this weekend.

“I would say he’s probably one of the best the game has to offer,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I think you saw why he’s so good: The ability to execute pitches. He got himself in a first-and-third situation with nobody out and was able to execute pitches and get out of the inning.”

In all, the Pirates struck out 16 times against five Indians pitchers. Jose Osuna went down swinging three times, and Josh Bell, Jarrod Dyson and Cole Tucker struck out twice each.

Bieber’s performance came six days after Cincinnati’s Sonny Gray had 10 strikeouts in an 8-1 win over the Pirates.

“Yeah, to your point, we have faced really good pitching, but the second point is we have to hit,” Shelton said. “We have got to have better at-bats. And that’s not just with (this game). We’ve got to have more consistent at-bats, and it’s something that we’re not doing right now, obviously.”

Shelton gave second baseman Adam Frazier (batting .175), left fielder Bryan Reynolds (.176) and right fielder Gregory Polanco (.070) the night off, starting Kevin Newman at second, Erik Gonzalez at short and JT Riddle at third with Osuna in left and Tucker in right.

The Indians scored in the second when Franmil Reyes hit a dribbler down the third-base line that Riddle allowed to roll into the bag in hopes it would go foul. Reyes went to second on Tyler Naquin’s single and scored on Beau Taylor’s single to right-center for a 1-0 Indians lead.

The Pirates ran themselves out of scoring position in the third. With runners on first and second and Bell up, Gonzalez was thrown out by Taylor while attempting to steal third. It was the sixth time a Pirates runner has been caught stealing. Bell struck out to end the inning.

Pirates starter Trevor Williams (1-4) ran into trouble in the top of the fourth with a bases-loaded jam. He gave up a leadoff single to Naquin and walked Domingo Santana before Taylor laid down a sacrifice bunt. Williams walked Bradley Zimmer to load the bases before striking out Cesar Hernandez, thanks to a generous call by home-plate umpire Ben May on a low pitch, and getting Jose Ramirez to fly out to left.

By then, however, Williams was up to 90 pitches.

“As a starting pitcher, you’re embarrassed that you only go four innings and last 90 pitches or whatever,” Williams said. “You tip your hat to that lineup. It’s a lineup full of veterans that knows exactly what they’re doing. They sold out to their approach. From their perspective, they knocked out the starter in the fourth inning.”

Colin Moran was ejected for arguing a called third strike on a check swing with third-base umpire Tripp Gibson in the bottom of the fourth, forcing the Pirates to use Frazier as the designated hitter off the bench.

The Pirates rallied in the sixth but came up empty. It started with a single by Newman, who has a nine-game hitting streak and reached base four times. Newman advanced to third on a hit-and-run on Bell’s single to left-center. But Bieber struck out Frazier and Osuna for his 10th and 11th Ks before getting Riddle to fly out to right.

Bieber recorded eight or more strikeouts in all six starts to begin the season, the third-longest streak in Indians history behind Bob Feller (nine games in 1946) and Sam McDowell (seven in 1966). He also broke McDowell’s club record (63) for most strikeouts in the first six games of a season, with 65.

It marked Bieber’s 11th career double-digit strikeout game and fourth of the season. He had 14 in the opener against the Kansas City Royals on July 24, 13 at the Minnesota Twins on July 30 and 11 against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 15. Herb Score and Feller are the only other Indians pitchers to have 10-plus double-digit strikeout performances in their first 60 career games. Score did it 17 times, Feller a dozen times.

The Pirates thought they tied the game in the seventh when Jacob Stallings drove an Oliver Perez slider deep to left. The ball appeared to ricochet off the left-field foul pole and into the seats, just two days after Carlos Santana’s three-run shot that appeared to sail foul was ruled fair in the 10th inning clinched Cleveland’s 6-3 win Tuesday.

Stallings questioned whether it was a home run, and third-base coach Joey Cora argued for a round-tripper. But video replays showed the ball hit the wire that connects the protective netting along the third-base line.

“I think it kinda threw everybody off because it hit that wire,” Stallings said. “It kicked off just like it would have if it hit the foul pole. I thought it was foul when it crossed the pole, then I saw it kick. I think it threw the umpires off, too. I think that’s why they went to look at it.”

Stallings singled, but Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning.

In the eighth, the Indians took a 2-0 lead after loading the bases against Chris Stratton. Taylor grounded to first, where Bell made a submarine throw that pulled Stallings off the plate. Reyes scored after making contact with Stallings, who never put the tag on him. After a 40-second video review, Reyes was ruled safe and Bell was charged with an error.

But the Pirates had no answer for Bieber or the Indians, and are searching for ways to snap a four-game losing streak.

“You tip your hat to him. You tip your hat to that club,” Williams said. “They’re playing really good ball right now, and they’re finding ways to win, whereas we have to scratch and claw. As a starting pitcher, you do your best to try to find your way into the sixth inning. As a team, the Indians are finding ways to win ballgames. It’s easier to win ballgames when you have a Cy Young frontrunner throwing every five days.”