Shane Bieber threw 6 2/3 two-run innings and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 4-3 victory over the visitors Cardinals of St. Louis Friday
Bieber (4-3) drove in five hits and walked four while striking out two. Emmanuel Clase gave up a point in the ninth but emerged with his 17th major league-leading save.
Cleveland built a 4-0 lead thanks to a fifth-inning rally against Matthew Liberatore that included an RBI single from Steven Kwan and a three-run double from Amed Rosario.
THE Cardinals kept things interesting all the way. With one out in the ninth, Lars Nootbar drove an RBI double over Kwan’s head in left field to cut the Guardians‘ leads to a
Clase needed 32 throws to get through the frame. But he knocked out 2022 National League Most Valuable Player Paul Goldschmidt on a swing check, then he asked Nolan Gorman — the NL leader in slugging percentage (.597) — to watch a strike called three.
Bieber traded zeros with Liberatore until the fifth, when the Guardians pieced together a great rally one base at a time, placing the first five men on base and scoring four of them
Bieber hit Andres Gimenez with a pitch to start the inning, and Cleveland loaded the bases on soft singles from Myles Straw and Mike Zunino. Kwan drove in Gimenez with a short single left field.
Amed Rosario then cleared the goals by lining up a brace in the corner of left field and the Guardians had a 4-0 advantage
THE Cardinalsplaying their 15th of a 19-game streak in as many days, lost the lead, scoring singles in the sixth and seventh on sacrifice steals by Nolan Arenado and Alec Burleson, respectively
The seventh got even more interesting as Bieber walked the last two batters he faced before reliever Trevor Stephan walked on Goldschmidt to load the bases. However, Stephan got Nolan Gorman out to third baseman Jose Ramirez in foul territory.
Gorman went 0 for 4, ending his 15-game hitting streak.
Kwan also helped keep a potential run off the board with a spectacular catch from Arenado’s drive to the left-field wall in the eighth.
–Field-Level Media
