Shane Bieber Struggles in Start Against Nationals
WASHINGTON — Shane Bieber, the pitcher for Toronto, faced a tough outing against the Washington Nationals.
The former Cy Young Award winner struggled significantly, walking six of the nine batters he faced, including several with the bases loaded. He was taken out after just two-thirds of an inning during the Blue Jays’ 8-6 loss on Tuesday night. At 31 years old, he has the highest walk rate this season, with five walks across 149 games pitched.
Per Stathead and Baseball Reference, Bieber has now joined the ranks of only ten pitchers in major league history to walk six batters or more while recording two outs or fewer. This has not occurred since Ryan Dempster achieved it back in October 2001.
Bieber mentioned he had trouble gripping the ball, which contributed to his lack of command. In his previous start against Tampa Bay, he went seven innings with one run allowed and no walks, showing a stark contrast.
“You’ve got to find a way to get through it, and we couldn’t do that tonight,” Bieber reflected. “After what was probably our best start as a Blue Jay, we followed it up with arguably our worst.”
This makes him the first Cy Young Award winner to ever go through such a challenging start. Bieber was awarded the AL Cy Young in 2020.
During this outing, he threw 42 pitches but only managed 15 strikes, making him the second player this season to have such a high pitch count with so few strikes. The first instance was by Kansas City’s Eric Cerantola with 14 strikes on June 30 against Tampa Bay.
“There are no excuses,” Bieber added. “You’ve got to find a way to get out of the first inning, dry your hands, change your shirt, and then get through it. That’s what I was trying to do, and unfortunately, I couldn’t do it. I don’t think anything like that has ever happened.”
The Nationals showcased their offensive momentum early on, beginning with James Wood’s lead-off walk. Following that, Luis Garcia Jr. hit a grounder, and Dylan Cruz also walked. CJ Abrams managed to get an infield hit, adding fuel to their rally.
Keibert Ruiz opened the scoring with a walk on four pitches, followed by another walk by Daylen Lyle that forced in a run. After Nassim Nunez hit a sacrifice fly, Jovit Vivas’s fifth walk of the inning led to a visit from Toronto’s pitching coach, Pete Walker.
Jacob Young then took to bat, throwing six pitches, which resulted in a string of strikes before manager John Schneider called for Bieber to leave the game.
This was Bieber’s seventh start after a lengthy absence of nearly three months due to elbow inflammation. He had previously undergone Tommy John surgery in April 2024, limiting him to only nine regular-season starts over the last two seasons.
“It was the worst thing for us to happen to him there,” Schneider noted, emphasizing the importance of managing his pitch count given Bieber’s history.
Reliever Brendon Little came in to end the inning with a groundout to Wood.
