MIAMI — A few hours before first pitch Friday, Shane Bieber sat alone in the visiting dugout at loanDepot Park, eyes on the field where he’d soon make his first big-league start in more than 16 months. By the late evening, Bieber’s new teammates were shaking his hand and slapping him on the back as he made his way through that same dugout after his first six innings in a Blue Jays uniform.
In between: dominance. Bieber’s command was pinpoint Friday, and he used it to get ahead in the count consistently against the Marlins’ lineup. His stuff was great too, with a fastball that sat 92.7 m.p.h. and perfectly located change-ups that induced off-balance swing after off-balance swing from the Marlins, who managed just two hits against Bieber while striking out nine times.
Best of all for the Blue Jays, Bieber’s debut led to another win as they beat Miami 5-2 to improve to 75-54 on the season while getting an enticing glimpse at what their newest starter may be able to offer down the stretch and into the playoffs.
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s hamstring hadn’t progressed quite enough for him to return to the starting lineup, he ran on the field pre-game and took batting practice — positive signs considering how much Guerrero Jr. means to the team’s offence.
“It’s going to be soon, but we’ve got take it day by day,” he told Sportsnet.
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With Guerrero Jr. still on the sidelines, the focus Friday was on Bieber, acquired at the trade deadline from the Guardians for pitching prospect Khal Stephen, a promising right-hander who’s now on the double-A injured list. At the time, Bieber was still rehabbing, and with that came some uncertainty, but after three starts with triple-A Buffalo, he was ready for the next challenge.
Still, it’s one thing to be physically ready for the major-leagues. Alongside the physical preparation there’s also the mental challenge of performing at the highest level alongside a completely new team. Going into the start, manager John Schneider stressed the importance of that task.
“(It matters) how he manages the early stages of the game, the adrenaline (and) the emotions of being back out there,” Schneider said. “He’s an accomplished guy, so just watching him navigate a game, that’s what we’re looking at.”
On the other side of the field, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough described how hard it is for many pitchers to rediscover their command after reconstructive elbow surgery. Having welcomed right-handers Eury Perez and Sandy Alcantara back from similar operations this year and experienced ups and downs from each, the Marlins know better than most that it can take time to control the baseball.
Yet somehow Bieber was at his best Friday, commanding the ball consistently and throwing few if any non-competitive pitches.
“It’s different in the big leagues than in it is when you’re on rehab in triple-A or A-ball,” Schneider said before the game. “His command has been really good since he’s been on the mound with us. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but I think with a guy of his calibre it should be pretty tight and if it’s not, we’re pretty confident that it will get better as he continues to pitch.”
At some point, there likely will be adjustments for Bieber to make, or starts where his command lapses. That’s to be expected from every pitcher, especially those coming back from major surgery.
But on Friday, there were no such concerns in sight. This was simply a Cy Young Award winner pitching like a Cy Young Award winner — an accomplishment worth celebrating after more than a year of hard work.
Of course once this milestone has been celebrated, it’ll be impossible not to look ahead a little. With the playoffs approaching and Bieber looking like a frontline arm again the question becomes how much performances like this could improve the Blue Jays’ chances in October.
