Blue Jays Shane Bieber walks six in disastrous…
WASHINGTON — Toronto pitcher Shane Bieber’s start against the Washington Nationals was something but a stroll in the park.
The former Cy Young Award winner issued walks to six of the 9 batters he confronted — including three with the bases loaded — before departing after two-thirds of an inning Tuesday evening in the BlueJays’ 8-6 loss. In his earlier 149 pitching appearances, the 31-year-old right-hander’s high for walks was 5.
According to Stathead/Baseball Reference, Bieber is the eleventh pitcher in major league historical past to stroll at least six while recording two outs or less, and the first to do so since Florida’s Ryan Dempster on Oct. 5, 2001, at Atlanta.
Bieber said he had problem gripping the ball and struggled with his command as a outcome. Bieber didn’t stroll anybody in his earlier start Thursday, when he allowed one run in seven innings against Tampa Bay.
Shane Bieber (middle) is taken out by supervisor John Schneider in the first inning after giving up three runs on bases loaded walks in the Blue Jays’ 8-6 loss to the Nationals on July 28, 2026 in Washington. Getty Images
“You have to find a way to get through it, right, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight,” Bieber said. “Ultimately, I follow up what was maybe my best start as a Blue Jay with what was definitely my worst.”
Bieber is the first Cy Young winner to have such an outing, although Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Christy Mathewson did, too. Bieber received the AL Cy Young in 2020.
Bieber threw 42 pitches, with only 15 strikes. He is the second participant this season to throw that many pitches with so few strikes. Kansas City’s Eric Cerantola threw 14 strikes in a 42-pitch reduction outing against Tampa Bay on June 30.
“I have no excuses,” Bieber said. “I have to find a way to get out of that first inning. Dry my hands off and change shirts and eat up innings after that. That’s what I was trying to do and unfortunately I wasn’t able to. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like that happen.”
Washington’s James Wood led off the first with a stroll, and Luis García Jr. adopted with a grounder to second. Dylan Crews then earned a free move, and CJ Abrams adopted with a well-placed infield single.
The sometimes free-swinging Keibert Ruiz adopted with a four-pitch stroll that scored the first run, and Daylen Lile drew another stroll that pushed in another run. Nasim Nuñez hit a sacrifice fly before Jorbit Vivas loaded the bases again with the inning’s fifth stroll, prompting a mound go to from Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker.
Shane Bieber walks to the dugout after being taken out in the first inning of the Blue Jays’ loss to the Nationals. Brad Mills-Imagn Images
Jacob Young then took six pitches — three balls and then two called strikes adopted by a slider properly exterior the zone — to pressure in a fourth run. That prompted supervisor John Schneider to head to the mound and end Bieber’s outing.
It was Bieber’s seventh start of the season after lacking nearly three months with elbow inflammation. He was restricted to a mixed 9 regular-season begins over the earlier two seasons after present process Tommy John surgical procedure in April 2024.
“Kind of just the last thing we thought was going to happen with him right there,” Schneider said. “When you get up to that pitch count in the first, with him, with his history and everything, just didn’t want to push it.”
Reliever Brendon Little bought Wood to ground out to end the inning.
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