This time, Indians win with shutout

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

Coming off successive lopsided defeats to the lowly Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians turned to Shane Bieber to pull the team out of its inexplicable collapse.

Bieber did his part, restoring the pecking order between the two teams with a brilliant pitching effort that provided Cleveland with a 2-0 victory Sunday.

Following identical 13-0 losses to the team with the worst record in the majors, the Indians turned it around behind Bieber (7-3). The left-hander gave up three hits and struck out 11 over eight sparkling innings. He did not issue a walk, retired 12 straight at one point and permitted only one runner past first base.

“Obviously it’s a long season, so we’re not trying to stress too much about two games,” Bieber said. “We’re just looking at what’s in front of us. That’s what we did today, and we got one win.”

It was a suitable encore to his previous start against the Orioles, when Bieber struck out 15 on May 19 in his first career shutout.

“Obviously, we have a real hard time with him. He’s really impressive,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just faced a really good pitcher today who kind of carved us up.”

Brad Hand gave up two singles and a two-out walk to load the bases in the ninth before striking out Anthony Santander for his 23rd save.

Oscar Mercado hit two doubles and scored twice on singles by Santana, who has reached base in 24 straight games and 42 of the past 43. Cleveland’s leader in home runs (18) and RBIs (50), Santana was announced Sunday as a participant in the Home Run Derby on July 8.

The Indians came to Camden Yards riding a 10-3 hot streak, then were blown out twice. Cleveland rebounded with a shutout of its own to end its first losing streak since May 30-31 and win the season series 4-3.

Orioles starter Gabriel Ynoa (0-6) gave up one run and six hits over 5 1/3 innings.

“I was aggressive going toward home plate and I was able to execute my pitches today,” Ynoa said.

Three of those hits came in the third, when the Mercado-Santana combination clicked to end the Indians’ run of scoreless innings at 20.

Baltimore was denied its first sweep of the season, and its two-game winning streak — the longest since early May — was snapped.