OAKLAND — Shane Bieber loves opening day even when it’s opening night. And the first game of the season, no matter what time of night or day it’s played, loves him right back.
Bieber struck out 11 in six scoreless innings Thursday night as the Guardians opened the season with an 8-0 win over the A’s at Oakland Coliseum.
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It was Bieber’s fifth consecutive opening-day start, tying a franchise record for the Guardians. He is 2-1 with a 0.94 ERA (three earned runs in 28 2/3 innings) and 44 strikeouts in those five games.
Bieber is one of six pitchers with at least three opening-day starts of 10 or more strikeouts. The others are Randy Johnson (four), Max Scherzer (three), Pedro Martinez (three), Felix Hernandez (three) and Bob Gibson (three). Johnson, Martinez and Gibson are in the Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Bieber opened the season with 14 strikeouts in a 2-0 win against Kansas City. In 2021 he opened the season against Detroit with 12 strikeouts in a 3-2 loss.
The Guardians gave Bieber (1-0, 0.00) an early lead before taking control for good.
They slammed the door on the A’s with a five-run fourth inning for a 6-0 lead. Nine men went to the plate against lefty Alex Wood (0-1, 16.20) and Kyle Muller. Five Guardians reached on hits and another via a hit-by-pitch.
Josh Naylor started the inning with a one-out double to the wall in left. David Fry singled him to third, and Wood hit Tyler Freeman to load the bases.
Andrés Giménez singled to center to score Naylor for a 2-0 lead. Austin Hedges followed with an infield hit to the hole at short. Fry scored and Freeman followed him home when Hedges knocked the ball out of first baseman Ryan Noda’s glove.
Noda was charged with an error on the play as two runs scored for a 4-0 lead.
No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio made it 6-0 with a double past third base to score Giménez and Hedges. The last time Cleveland had a five-run inning on opening day was March 31, 2008 against the White Sox. It came in the seventh inning highlighted by a three-run homer by Franklin Gutierrez.
Cleveland’s offense struggled last season, but it had its way with the A’s on Thursday. They had 11 hits, including three by Fry. Five of the hits went for extra bases: four doubles and a triple.
José Ramírez and Fry finished the scoring for Cleveland in the ninth. Ramírez tripled home Steven Kwan, and Ramírez scored on Fry’s sacrifice fly for for an 8-0 lead.
The Guardians took a 1-0 lead on consecutive doubles by Fry and Freeman with one out in the second. It was the first run Wood had allowed in 15 2/3 career innings innings against the Guardians. It would not be the last.
Bieber let it be known early that he was on his game. He struck out six in the first two innings, while pitching around two singles.
He had at least one strikeout in the three innings before striking out the first two A’s in the sixth inning. It was Bieber’s last inning as he allowed four hits and walked one on 83 pitches.
Eli Morgan, Tim Herrin and Nick Sandlin preserved the shutout, each with a scoreless inning.
Next: LHP Logan Allen (7-8, 3.81) vs. RHP Ross Stripling (0-5, 5.36) on Friday at 9:40 p.m. ET. Bally Sports Great Lakes and WTAM will carry the game. (Pitcher records are from last season).
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