Shane Bieber tossed seven shutout innings, Andres Gimenez and Josh Bell each homered and the Cleveland Guardians beat the visiting Houston Astros 5-0 on Sunday to take the rubber match of the series.
Bieber (5-3) matched a season high with nine strikeouts and allowed three hits with one walk. Cleveland outhit the Astros 11-4 and won for the sixth time in its last eight games.
The Guardians claimed an early lead when Bell doubled off Brandon Bielak (3-3) to begin the second inning and Gimenez followed with a two-run homer to right-center field.
Bell scored three runs and had three hits, including a leadoff homer in the fourth inning. The 426-foot blast to center field was Bell’s fifth of the season.
Cleveland pushed another run across in the fifth when Myles Straw hit a leadoff single, moved to third on Steven Kwan’s one-out double and scored on Amed Rosario’s groundout.
The Guardians knocked Bielak out of the game in the sixth inning after Bell delivered a leadoff double and scored on Tyler Freeman’s double to left field. Freeman had entered the game in the top of the sixth in place of Gimenez, who was removed due to left leg tightness.
Bielak yielded five runs on nine hits over five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Bieber fanned at least one batter in each of his seven innings after recording a total of eight strikeouts over his last three starts.
Freeman had two hits for Cleveland, which notched its first series win against Houston since May 19-21, 2017.
Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games with a third-inning single.
Houston, which concluded a stretch of 17 games in 17 consecutive days, struck out 13 times and had just one extra-base hit. The Astros went 9-8 during the 17-game span.
The Astros’ best scoring threat came with runners at the corners and one out in the fifth inning, when Cesar Salazar struck out and Mauricio Dubon grounded into a fielder’s choice.
Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase capped the team’s sixth shutout of the season and recorded his 200th career strikeout during a scoreless ninth inning.
–Field Level Media
