Pressure is on the Cleveland Guardians in ALDS Game 2

A Look at the Pitching Matchup

If you love great pitching, then you have loved watching the Guardians throughout this postseason. The wild-card series gave us two great pitcher’s duels, including a 15-inning marathon deciding game that ended 1-0. And Cole provided more of the same in the ALDS opener. Expect the great pitching to continue in Game 2 as Cleveland’s Shane Bieber takes on New York’s Cortes.

Bieber will head to the hill fresh off a dominant performance in Game 1 of the wild-card round against the Rays where he earned the win throwing 7 2/3 dominant innings, giving up just one run on three hits and striking out eight. On the season he went 13-8 with a 2.88 ERA and 198 strikeouts in 200 innings pitched. While his velocity has been down somewhat, he seemed to get stronger as the season went on. Now he looks for redemption against the Yankees, who knocked him around in Game 1 of the 2020 wild-card series.

Bieber will face off against Cortes, an All-Star left-hander who varies his delivery, arm slot and timing to keep hitters off-balance. He ended the season 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts. He beat the Guardians twice this year, giving up two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings on April 23, and just one run on three hits in six innings on July 2. The Guardians will need to solve their season-long struggles against left-handed pitching or get to the Yankees bullpen in order to win this game.