Cleveland’s remarkable starting pitching depth will be on display Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field in the finale of a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics. The teams split the first two games, with Oakland winning 6-3 on Saturday to snap Cleveland’s five-game winning streak.
Rookie Shane Bieber will start Sunday for the Indians. In a combined 17 starts for Cleveland and Triple-A Columbus, Bieber is 10-1 with a 1.77 ERA — and he’s the No. 5 starter in the Indians’ rotation.
The rotation is led by two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer, who ranks third in the AL in strikeouts and innings pitched and is fifth in ERA.
The No. 3 starter is Carlos Carrasco, a 17-game winner last year when he finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. The No. 4 starter is Mike Clevinger, who in 38 starts since the beginning of the 2017 season is 18-7 with a 3.07 ERA.
“Good baseball starts with good starting pitching,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Having good starting pitching always enhances your chances to win, and we’ve got five very good starting pitchers.”
Bieber is the newest addition to that rotation, having replaced Josh Tomlin in the No. 5 spot. Like Tomlin, Bieber’s calling card is impeccable control. In his 17 starts between Cleveland and Columbus, Bieber has pitched 107 innings and has 101 strikeouts and 11 walks.
In his five starts with the Indians, Bieber is 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA. His last start was the worst of the five, but he still won the game. On July 3, he was a 6-4 winner over Kansas City, pitching six innings and giving up four runs and nine hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
Sunday will be Bieber’s first career start against Oakland.
The A’s on Sunday will activate left-hander Brett Anderson (0-2, 7.63 ERA) off the disabled list and he will make his first start since May 18. Anderson was removed from that start after one inning because of a sore shoulder and placed on the disabled list the next day. In four starts before the injury Devin Singletary Jersey , he was 0-2 with a 7.63 ERA.
Anderson will make his first appearance against the Indians since Aug. 27, 2012, when he pitched seven scoreless innings and gave up two hits in a 3-0 win. Only two players in Cleveland’s lineup that day are still with the Indians: Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis.
In four career starts against Cleveland, Anderson is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA.
The A’s on Saturday made a roster move, putting outfielder Matt Joyce on the 10-day disabled list with a lumbar strain, the second time this season that Joyce has spent time on the DL with the same back condition.
To replace Joyce on the roster, the A’s recalled outfielder Nick Martini from Triple-A. In 73 games with Nashville, Martini was hitting .308 with six home runs and 40 RBIs. This is his third stint with the A’s this year. In the first two, he was 1-for-10 with one RBI in five games.
After an anemic first couple months of the season, the Dodgers are powering balls out of the stadium at a near record rate.
Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger each hit a solo home run, Joc Pederson added a two-run shot and Los Angeles defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-5 on Wednesday night.
The Dodgers improved to 17-6 in June and have slugged a major league-leading 51 homers this month. That’s the second-most during any month in franchise history. With three days remaining, they have a chance to overtake last year’s team that set the record with 53 while the single-season record of 58 in a month is within reach, too.
”It just seems like they’re taking really good swings,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ”When there’s a mistake in the strike zone, we hit it hard.”
The Dodgers hit 25 home runs in late March and April and 31 in May. The current surge is being generated by a variety of players.
”It’s scary facing us,” Bellinger said. ”We’re clicking right now.”
After not homering in a 9-4 loss to the Cubs on Tuesday that snapped their four-game winning streak http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dawson-knox-jersey , the Dodgers got going early despite not having Matt Kemp in the lineup. The outfielder, who is hitting .311, served a one-game suspension after losing his appeal with Major League Baseball for a scuffle with Texas catcher Robinson Chirinos on June 13.
Muncy homered over the center-field wall in the first for his ninth long ball this month and 16th of the season. The ball hit something beyond the wall and bounced back onto the field, grazing center fielder Albert Almora Jr. in the head.
Later in the inning, Yasmani Grandal’s two-run double with two outs gave the Dodgers the lead for good, 3-2.
Pederson followed in the second with his 10th homer of the month to make it 5-2. Enrique Hernandez extended the lead with an RBI single.
Alex Wood (4-5) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings to earn his third straight win. The left-hander struck out six and walked none, retiring the final seven batters he faced.
Kenley Jansen earned a four-out save, his 21st of the season.
Chicago made it close after Wood exited. He was replaced in the eighth by Scott Alexander, who walked Jason Heyward and gave up a single to Javier Baez before Willson Contreras hit a two-run double to pull the Cubs to 6-5.
Ben Zobrist grounded back to Alexander, putting the potential tying run on third, but Jansen came in and struck out Addison Russell to end the inning.
”The at-bats had great approaches,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. ”I thought we hit the ball all over the place. Javy hit it to right and right center. Same with Contreras. Good approaches. We played our butts off, we just didn’t get it.”
Bellinger homered leading off the eighth against Randy Rosario, tying Muncy for the team lead with 16 homers and making it 7-5.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (5-8) gave up six runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings, failing to go at least five innings for the first time in 16 starts this season. The team has lost five of his last six starts.
”I’m just searching right now, it’s just bad Brian Burns Jersey ,” Hendricks said. ”I don’t know mechanics and I’m trying to focus mentally and go pitch-to-pitch. Something is just off. I’ve had troubles in my career, but this is up there as one of the toughest.”
Chicago took the lead in the first on a two-run homer by Contreras.
In the fifth, Heyward reached on an infield single that Wood raced to pick up along the first base line. He flipped to Bellinger, and first base umpire Alan Porter signaled that Heyward was out. But the ball came loose and second baseman Logan Forsythe, backing up the play, fired to the plate. Ian Happ, who singled leading off, was called safe to leave the Cubs trailing 6-3.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Chicago closer Brandon Morrow (lower back tightness) was activated off the DL. He had been sidelined since June 20 after experiencing back spasms while taking his pants off. … RHP Tyler Chatwood will be available soon. Chatwood has been on paternity leave after his wife gave birth last Sunday.
Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler (right rib microfracture) will throw three innings in a rehab start at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday. If it goes well, he will have a bullpen session this weekend and could possibly return to the rotation next week. … INF-OF Chris Taylor (left hamstring) wasn’t in the lineup for the sixth straight day but pinch hit in the seventh and will start on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Cubs LHP Jose Quintana (6-6, 4.26 ERA) starts the series finale against LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-4, 2.94). Quintana is better on the road (3.22 ERA) than at home (6.00). Making his second start since coming off the disabled list, Kershaw is 5-3 in nine career starts against Chicago with a 2.64 ERA.