Blue Jays’ Shane Bieber pitches in the fourth inning during a home game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Shane Bieber’s home debut for the Toronto Blue Jays was solid, even if he didn’t get much run support from his team in a 7-2 loss to the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
The former Cy Young Award winner allowed five hits and two runs on Friday night, while striking out six batters in five and a third innings. He impressed Toronto manager John Schneider.
“This dude’s a really good pitcher, and it’s really good for us going forward,” said Schneider. “He’s as good as anyone in the game … he’s got nothing to prove to me, to the league.”
It was just Bieber’s second start since having Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and joining the Jays at the trade deadline. It came in the first of three highly anticipated weekend games between the American League-leading Jays hosting the National League topping Brewers.
A sellout crowd of 41,390 packed in to see the top two teams in baseball – including the Jays newly-acquired right-handed ace – and to experience “Bieber Fever” for the first time at Rogers Centre. They were loud and gave him a taste of what it could be like in October.
“I think it’s good practice, right? We all do this to win World Series and pitching meaningful games and playoff games and so credit to Jays fans. They’ve, they’ve had a playoff atmosphere since I’ve gotten here,” he added. “I was very excited to go out there and pitch and, you know, compete, and ultimately, just couldn’t get it done.”
The Jays hope Bieber will be a big part of a huge postseason run this fall. He’s a two-time All Star and won the AL Cy Young Award in 2020 with Cleveland. That year, he also captured the AL pitching triple crown, leading the league in wins (eight), strikeouts (122), and earned run average (ERA) with a 1.63.
He had Tommy John surgery in April, 2024, which ended his season early. The Jays acquired him from the Guardians last month at the trade deadline.
Bieber’s second start was not quite as sharp as his first, which took place a week earlier in Miami, when he allowed one run and struck out nine in six innings against the Marlins. The performance had Toronto manager John Schneider saying “I’ve got Bieber fever.”
The 30-year-old ace had a sensational first inning Friday night in Toronto, striking out the first three batters he faced from baseball’s best team. He had the top of the Brewers order swinging and missing, mixing a variety of his pitches – four-seam fastballs, sliders, changeups and cutters. The full stadium roared.
Milwaukee managed two hits off Bieber in the second inning, and another hit in the fifth, but he kept them scoreless.
That is until Andruw Monasterio homered off Bieber in the top of the sixth, sending a solo shot into the Jays bullpen in left field to give the Brewers their first run of the night. Brice Turang added a base hit and the Jays promptly called down to the bullpen. Bieber left the game after throwing 92 pitches. Schneider said had his pitch count been a little lower, the Jays would have left him in a bit longer.
“Came out maybe a little bit too amped up, would have liked to control the zone a little bit better throughout my outing, but I thought I competed really well all things considered,” said Bieber.
The Brewers scored five runs in a disastrous sixth inning and two more in the seventh. The Jays used a concerning succession of relievers, most of them struggling.
Davis Schneider put Toronto on the board with a two-run single in the seventh inning but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Along with the loss, Toronto suffered another hit Friday as star outfielder Dalton Varsho left the game after getting hit in the right hand with a pitch. X-rays were negative, but his pinkie is painful and the team will re-evaluate him on Saturday.
The Jays have yet to decide whether Bieber will pitch next on Wednesday in Cincinnati or on Friday in New York.
Toronto’s manager said Bieber gets along well with fellow pitchers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt in Toronto, comparing the trio to a bunch of brothers, saying Bieber is “like the brother that tucks in his shirt and the other two aren’t.”
Kevin Gausman takes the mound for Toronto on Saturday, while Scherzer will close out the series on Sunday.