AKRON, Ohio – The Somerset Patriots might have thought the deck was stacked against them vs. the Akron RubberDucks on Sunday. With playoff implications on the line, they had to face Shane Bieber.
But all is fair in love and baseball, right?
Bieber, rehabbing his shoulder with the RubberDucks, took the mound at Canal Park with a 60-pitch limit and threw 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up three hits and three runs, all earned. He struck out four and walked one. He threw 57 pitches, with 38 strikes.
Early on, the Patriots remained unintimidated, smashing a pair of home runs off Bieber. Oswaldo Cabrera yanked a pitch down the right-field line in the first, and Dermis Garcia rocketed a ball out to left-center in the fourth. That pitch to Garcia -- what Bieber called “a bit of a mistake” -- was his last of the afternoon. He was pulled for Nic Enright with the Patriots up, 3-0.
Unofficially, Bieber topped out at 93 mph.
The RubberDucks came from behind to win, 5-4, and earned a playoff berth.
“It has been challenging, it has been frustrating,” said Bieber, who was 7-4 with a 3.28 ERA with the Indians when he was placed on injured reserve June 14 with a right shoulder subscapularis strain. The subscapularis is the rotator cuff’s largest muscle. “There’s a whole lot of other adjectives I can use. I feel healthy and I feel good.”
Bieber, who said this is the first time he has undergone time off like this since he was a freshman at the University of California-Santa Barbara, also rehabbed for Columbus on Tuesday. He went 2 2/3 innings and struck out three. He allowed one run on three hits and threw 47 pitches with the Clippers against Toledo.
Timetable for Bieber’s return to the majors, if there is one this season, has “not really been talked about,” he said. The Indians have 15 games remaining, nine of which are at home. But Paul Hoynes reports that the Indians could be considering a start against the White Sox next Friday.
“All in all, I’m proud of myself the way I have been able to handle it and continue each and every day cause it’s a lot easier said than done,” Bieber said. “At the end of the day you have to try your hardest and try your best to come out on the other side. I’m feeling better and better each day, I’m feeling healthy.”
Bieber wasn’t the only draw at the ballpark Sunday, though. The 4,013 fans in attendance were treated to the culmination of an old-fashioned pennant race. Akron and Somerset entered Sunday’s game with 72-46 records and atop their respective divisions. Bowie came into their game 72-47. Bowie had made it a race, chipping away at Akron’s lead by winning 12 of 14 since Sept. 7.
As the Somerset-Akron game entered the ninth, Bowie hosted Altoona 350 miles away. Bowie came from behind to win, 7-5, meaning Akron had to beat Somerset to make the playoffs.
Akron’s Jose Fermin blasted a three-run shot to tie the game at 4 in the eighth, and George Valera’s one-out single brought in the go-ahead run. The victory means the RubberDucks assure themselves of a trip to Bowie. The best-of-five series begins Tuesday.
Somerset’s parent club, the New York Yankees, lost to the Indians, 11-1, Sunday afternoon.
That “all is fair in love and baseball” mantra goes both ways: On Aug. 24, the Ducks had to face a rehabbing Corey Kluber with Somerset. The Patriots won, 6-2, though Kluber didn’t figure into the decision.
Sunday’s RubberDucks game brings the regular-season attendance to 208,162 after the lost coronavirus-pandemic year of 2020.
I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. And tune in at 7 a.m. Wednesdays for “Beer with Bona and Much, Much More” with Munch Bishop on 1350-AM The Gambler. Twitter: @mbona30.
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