CLEVELAND – It was an opening day like never before, coming on July 24. There were many that didn’t think we would even see baseball in 2020. But not only did the Indians play Friday night, one of their own worked his way into the record books.
Pitcher Shane Bieber matched a mark from former Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson with 14 strikeouts in just six innings, as the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0.
Bieber needed 97 pitches and 62 strikes to get the 14 K’s, and he struck out the side three times in the win.
“I thought he was outstanding. First inning they made him work, then in the fifth he had to work again, but to get through six on opening night was really good. I don’t know how many strikeouts he had, but it was a bunch,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
The Tribe didn’t give Bieber much offense. They did manage to push a pair of runs across in the fifth, which was enough to get the job done.
The big hits in that fifth inning came from Oscar Mercado (RBI single) and Cesar Hernandez (RBI double), which gave the Indians the lead for good.
“We didn’t smack the ball all over the ballpark but we hit the ball up the middle and the other way and we got rewarded for it,” Francona said.
From there it was all pitching, as Bieber threw the sixth before being pulled, and three relief pitchers threw an inning each, none of which allowed a run, as the team closed out the win.
Here are a few observations on win number one for Bieber and the Indians on opening night at Progressive Field.
Breaking Records
Just to put into perspective how dominant Bieber was Friday night, consider that he struck out the side not once, but three times, reaching the mark in the 2nd, 4th and 5th innings.
“It’s impressive, it’s fun to watch, I”ve never seen anything like it,” Indians outfielder Oscar Mercado said.
“He is a remarkable talent, I’m glad he’s on my team, it’s fun to watch him pitch.”
He did allow a two-out single in the fourth and worked out of a jam in the fifth, as the Royals had first and third with two outs when he struck out Adalberto Mondesi.
He started the game by striking out Alex Gordon, then struck out the side in the second (4), two more Royals in the third (6), the side again in the fourth and the fifth (12), and two more to wrap up his outing in the sixth (14).
“I was pumped, you could probably tell I was a little jittery, a little excited in that first inning, but I came back out in the second and got a little better and a little more comfortable,” Bieber said.
“There were a lot of new things for everybody really, no fans in the stands. At least I thought I was prepared for it, but it’s different when there’s another team and other players stepping into the box, and there’s no fans in the stands and they are pumping in crowd noise, but I eventually got used to it, and fell into a nice little rhythm.”
The 14 strikeouts is a new Tribe record for Opening Day, as Bieber passed Gary Bell, who struck out 12 Detroit Tigers in 10.1 innings back in 1960.
Bell actually was an All-Star in 1960, with a mark of 9-10 with a 4.12 ERA. The Indians finished fourth that season in the AL East, going 76-78.
The 14 K’s for Bieber tied him with Hall of Fame hurler Randy Johnson, who on opening day in 1996 struck out 14 Chicago White Sox for the Mariners over seven innings.
For Bieber, striking out 14 did come at a cost, as the pitcher threw more pitches than he wanted to through six innings and was pulled after the frame as a result. But it was more than worth tying Johnson’s record.
“I think when I get into a rhythm like that until I get to two strikes, and then I try to miss barrels,” Bieber said.
“I feel like I had a lot of three-pitch strikeouts today and that was just me trying to be aggressive and trying to get into the game as deep as possible.”
In the Clutch
The Indians offense wasn’t giving Bieber much help until they finally broke though against Royals starter Danny Duffy in the fifth inning, driving him from the game.
Jordan Luplow started the frame getting hit by a pitch, and after Domingo Santana fouled out, Roberto Perez hit a 2-2 pitch for a single to put runners on the corners.
Oscar Mercado hit a 3-1 pitch into center field for the first run of the game, sending Perez to third.
Cesar Hernandez then doubled down the line in left to score Perez to extend the lead to 2-0.
Jose Ramirez was hit by a pitch, bringing up Francisco Lindor with the bases loaded, but he struck out on a 2-2 curveball.
Carlos Santana then grounded out on a 2-1 pitch to end the inning, but the necessary damage was done.
The Plan Comes Together
Terry Francona had to be liking what he saw from his team’s bullpen, considered by many as a question mark, as they shut down the Royals over the last three innings to seal the win.
Up first in place of Bieber was Adam Cimber, who pitched the seventh and got two quick outs at the bottom of the Royals order on a pop out and ground out.
Cimber then walked Nicky Lopez, but got Franchy Cordero to ground out to Hernandez at second to end the inning.
The reliever needed 19 pitches (10 strikes) to escape out of the frame.
Next up was Nick Wittgren, who pitched the eighth inning for the Tribe. Like Cimber, he got two quick outs of the top of the Royals order, a flyout and a strikeout, but then hit Jorge Soler to put a runner on base.
Wittgren got Royals catcher Salvador Perez to chase an 83 mph slider for the third strike to end the frame.
The ninth inning saw closer Brad Hand come into the game for the Indians, and he hit Alex Gordon to start the frame, but quickly recovered to get a flyout and two punchouts to end the game.
He struck out Miakel Franco on a four-seam fastball for the second out, and then retired Erick Mejia on a 90 mph four-seam fastball for the final out.
All in all the pen threw three innings, no runs or hits, one walk, four K’s and one hit batter.
“You don’t want to overreact either way, you try to draw it up the best you can and go let them play, I know there’s a segment of people that want to overreact when something happens, but you just have to go out and let them play,” Francona said.
Sending a Message
The Indians decided as a team to wear their navy blue jerseys with the word “Cleveland” on the front instead of “Indians,” and that was done on purpose to raise awareness about wanting to end social injustice.
“We just kind of want to send a message, we want fairness for everyone, we’re trying to show what Cleveland Indians baseball is all about,” Mercado said.
“At the end of the day it’s everyone being up to date and educated and it’s all about accepting everything and knowing what’s ahead of you in the world. It’s a tough time right now but at the end of the day it’s positivity and love that’s going to get us through it.”
Francona said prior to the opener that the team likely won’t be able to wear the “Cleveland” jersey at home after opening night, as it’s not something that was approved by Major League Baseball.
On Saturday, expect to see the team back to their “script Indians” gear that is the normal apparel for home games.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
An investigator gave the World Anti-Doping Agency a pass on its handling of the inflammatory case involving Chinese swimmers, but not without hammering away at the “curious” nature of WADA’s “silence” after examining Chinese actions that did not follow rules designed to safeguard global sports.
WADA on Thursday released the full decision from Eric Cottier, the Swiss investigator it appointed to analyze its handling of the case involving the 23 Chinese swimmers who remained eligible despite testing positive for performance enhancers in 2021.
In echoing wording from an interim report issued earlier this summer, Cottier said it was “reasonable” that WADA chose not to appeal the Chinese anti-doping agency’s explanation that the positives came from contamination.
“Taking into consideration the particularities of the case, (WADA) appears … to have acted in accordance with the rules it has itself laid out for anti-doping organizations,” Cottier wrote.
But peppered throughout his granular, 56-page analysis of the case was evidence and reminders of how WADA disregarded some of China’s violations of anti-doping protocols. Cottier concluded this happened more for the sake of expediency than to show favoritism toward the Chinese.
“In retrospect at least, the Agency’s silence is curious, in the face of a procedure that does not respect the fundamental rules, and its lack of reaction is surprising,” Cottier wrote of WADA’s lack of fealty to the world anti-doping code.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and one of WADA’s fiercest critics, latched onto this dynamic, saying Cottier’s information “clearly shows that China did not follow the rules, and that WADA management did nothing about it.”
One of the chief complaints over the handling of this case was that neither WADA nor the Chinese gave any public notice upon learning of the positive tests for the banned heart medication Temozolomide, known as TMZ.
The athletes also were largely kept in the dark and the burden to prove their innocence was taken up by Chinese authorities, not the athletes themselves, which runs counter to what the rulebook demands.
Despite the criticisms, WADA generally welcomed the report.
“Above all, (Cottier) reiterated that WADA showed no bias towards China and that its decision not to appeal the cases was reasonable based on the evidence,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said. “There are however certainly lessons to be learned by WADA and others from this situation.”
Tygart said “this report validates our concerns and only raises new questions that must be answered.”
Cottier expanded on doubts WADA’s own chief scientist, Olivier Rabin, had expressed over the Chinese contamination theory — snippets of which were introduced in the interim report. Rabin was wary of the idea that “a few micrograms” of TMZ found in the kitchen at the hotel where the swimmers stayed could be enough to cause the group contamination.
“Since he was not in a position to exclude the scenario of contamination with solid evidence, he saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities,” Cottier wrote.
Though recommendations for changes had been expected in the report, Cottier made none, instead referring to several comments he’d made earlier in the report.
Key among them were his misgivings that a case this big was largely handled in private — a breach of custom, if not the rules themselves — both while China was investigating and after the file had been forwarded to WADA. Not until the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported on the positives were any details revealed.
“At the very least, the extraordinary nature of the case (23 swimmers, including top-class athletes, 28 positive tests out of 60 for a banned substance of therapeutic origin, etc.), could have led to coordinated and concerted reflection within the Agency, culminating in a formal and clearly expressed decision to take no action,” the report said.
WADA’s executive committee established a working group to address two more of Cottier’s criticisms — the first involving what he said was essentially WADA’s sloppy recordkeeping and lack of formal protocol, especially in cases this complex; and the second a need to better flesh out rules for complex cases involving group contamination.
The French league’s legal commission has ordered Paris Saint-Germain to pay Kylian Mbappé the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages that he claims he’s entitled to, the league said Thursday.
The league confirmed the decision to The Associated Press without more details, a day after the France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the commission in his dispute with his former club.
