Early night for Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber in Game Three of the ALDS

Bieber’s ALDS game three outing overview 

While the hope was a minimum of five innings of work, or a maximum of six, Bieber fell short by a lot. He only lasted 2 and 2/3 innings in this battle with the Bronx Bombers. The Blue Jays right-hander allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits, walking one hitter, and striking out two.

The right-hander finished with a total of 54 pitches, throwing a total of 36 strikes. Bieber did throw a “pitcher’s best pitch,” which is a first pitch strike in 11 of 15 hitters. He recorded seven called strikes, five swinging strikes, 12 foul balls, and 12 in-play strikes. 

After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the Jays the early lead in the first inning with a two-run shot,  the Yankees answered back. In the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees pushed a run with a Giancarlo Stanton single, scoring Judge. An error in this inning prolonged the inning, pushing Bieber’s first inning workload. 

Bieber’s second inning was clean, picking up two strikeouts and a fly-out at the bottom of the order. The start of his third inning is where things fell apart. Trent Grisham started the inning with a double after a failed catcher’s interference call, and this led to contagious hitting from Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, followed by a sacrifice fly from Giancarlo Stanton, and a Jazz Chisholm Jr walk. 

Two runs scored in this inning, while the Yankees still threatened. This was enough for John Schneider to call it a night for Bieber. 

In-Game Observations 

Bieber looked fairly comfortable and composed. His tempo was on point, and he did not seem phased by the environment. This allowed him to stay locked into his fundamentals, repeating his delivery well and commanding well. He commanded the zone, starting most at-bats with a strike, and he lived off the zone. The pitches that were taken advantage of stayed in the zone too long, and or they broke into the wrong part of the zone for certain hitters. 

The Yankees are a fastball-hitting team; they saw 22 of those in this outing, while seeing 11 change-ups, 10 sliders, and 11 knuckle-curves. His fastball was not overpowering, as it maximized at 94 mph, averaging 93.2 mph. 26 of Bieber’s pitches were in the strike zone, 28 were out, and batters swung at 29 pitches. Across 24 of 54 of Bieber’s pitches, hitters made contact with. 12 pitches were put in play by Yankees hitters, sitting around 100-plus mph. Most of these pitches were middle-middle and middle-in. A mix of pitch location that the Yankees’ bats could time up and lowered velocity led to an early night in New York. 

The Blue Jays’ game three starter was not expected to go far into the game, but give the Jays enough length before turning things over to the bullpen. Bieber had also only started seven games in the regular season since coming back from injury. He recorded a 4-2 record in the season with a 3.57 ERA in 40 and 1/3 innings. 

Bieber’s outing ended earlier than expected, but the outcomes could have been worse upfront if he’d stayed in the game.