Bieber Dominates Rays as Guardians Take Game 1 in Wild Card Series, 2-1

Cleveland's Shane Bieber overwhelmed Tampa Bay in the opening game of the 2022 playoffs.

It's not about how you pitch and the beginning of the season, it's about how you pitch at the end. More specifically, it's how you pitch in crunch time and in the postseason.

Shane Bieber had a slow start to the year and he struggled a bit with his velocity out of the gate. The results were fine, but they weren't Bieberesque.

But as the year went along, it became clear that Cleveland's ace was still - without question - one of the game's most dominant starting pitcher. He filled the strike zone at a really high rate, with a walk-rate (4.6 percent) well below the league average and he registered 198 strikeouts in 200 innings.

So when it was time to put together the postseason rotation, it wasn't even a conversation for Terry Francona (despite how well Triston McKenzie has fared this year). Bieber was getting the ball Game 1.

And boy did he deliver.

Bieber didn't give up a base hit until the fifth inning and was tagged for just one solo home run. 

That was it.

Shane Bieber's 2 1st Inning Ks.

And is fired up. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NTpzROQLb1

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 7, 2022

Bieber took the win in Cleveland's 2-1 win over the Rays. He literally looked like he was toying with the Rays all day as he induced 18 swings and misses over his 99 pitches. The Rays right-handed hitters refused to try and take him the other way and they were off-balance the entire afternoon.

Bieber ripped off 7.2 nearly flawless innings, allowing just the one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out eight.

The fans gave Shane Bieber a standing ovation after his Game 1 performance 👏 pic.twitter.com/6wdOKoHhss

— ESPN (@espn) October 7, 2022

He gave way to Emmanuel Clase with two outs in the eighth inning as Francona didn't want to give Jose Siri a third chance to face Bieber, considering he was the only one that had quality at bats against him.

Bieber certainly came in with momentum. He went 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA over his final 13 starts of the season. He also registered 11 consecutive quality starts from July 29 - September 22. Since 1975, only Corey Kluber in 2018 has had a longer such streak.

Now its up to the rest of the team to see if they can beat Tampa a second time this weekend and try to give Bieber a chance to pitch against the New York Yankees next week.

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Read More:

Cleveland Guardians Announce Playoff Roster vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Are The Cleveland Guardians Primed For A World Series Run?

Guardians Fans Will See A Few Familiar Faces In The Wild Card Series Against The Rays

Shane Bieber Recalls Lessons From Corey Kluber As He Prepares For Wild Card Start

Josh Naylor Reflects On 2022 Season, Return From Injury, Time With Brother Bo

Terry Francona Loves Managing Guardians, Excited for Playoffs To Start

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