Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber only allowed one hit in a complete game shut out of the Toronto Blue Jays as the Tribe won 4-0.
Shane Bieber allowed only one hit in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Toronto. Bieber carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Eric Sogard broke up the no-no with a ground-rule double to lead off the inning. While Bieber was unable to complete the first Indians no-hitter/perfect game since Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981, he was still able to finish off his dominant performances. Bieber struck out 10 batters, allowed one hit and walked one over his nine innings of work.
While Bieber was busy not he mound shutting down the Blue Jays, the offense took a little while to get going. The Indians finally got on the board in the fifth inning with Kevin Plawecki driving in Greg Allen with a double.
Oscar Mercado would hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth allowing Francisco Lindor to score and give the Tribe a little more of a cushion.
The ninth inning saw the Indians scoring two more runs. Jose Ramirez scored on a Jordan Luplow groundout and Greg Allen drove in Jake Bauers with an RBI single.
Jose Ramirez went 2-4 on the day as his hot hitting streak continues. Ramirez has collected a hit in 13 of the 16 games in July.
Speaking of hot hitting, Greg Allen is quite productive at the plate. Since returning from Triple-A Allen is slashing .500/.581/.769 with an OPS of 1.350. This is far from sustainable, but it has certainly helped the Indians while Tyler Naquin is sidelined with an injury.
The Cleveland Indians are now only two games back of the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. Cleveland also holds the first Wild Card spot at this moment in time. The Indians will take on the Kansas City Royals for a four game series starting Thursday.
