Cleveland Indians Preview: Can Tribe find consistency at Comerica Park?

Game 4

The final game of the series might be the best pitching matchup of the four games as we get a rematch of Opening Day between Shane Bieber and Matthew Boyd. While Boyd was the better pitcher on April 1, the two have been relatively close since then despite Bieber’s record looking better.

On Opening Day against Detroit, Bieber struck out 12 batters over six innings, but did allow three runs in the process, picking up the loss in a 3-2 final. He also threw a season-low 95 pitches in the outing. Since then, Bieber has now compiled the most strikeouts in all of baseball with 98 while also leading the American League in innings pitched with 65, trailing only Zach Wheeler on the National League side of competition.

As for Boyd, he’s just lacked run support this season, leading to five losses which is tied for second in the American League behind only his teammate, the aforementioned Tarik Skubal. While the year began strong for Boyd, he’s stumbled in his last two starts, giving up four earned runs over six innings to the Cubs and then five runs over five innings to the Royals.

Boyd is definitely a beatable pitcher for the Tribe and having Bieber on the mound could ease some of the pressure on the offense and hopefully lead to a win to close out the series.