Jun 14, 2021 3 min read

Shane Bieber’s season is suddenly on pause, leaving the Indians to survive for a while without their ace.

The AL’s reigning Cy Young winner won’t throw for at least two weeks because of a right shoulder strain, an injury that will further test Cleveland’s pitching depth and could send the Indians, who have been competitive for 2 ½ months, into a tailspin.

After allowing a season-high in hits – and throwing 107 pitches over five innings – in a loss to Seattle on Sunday that dropped him to 7-4, Bieber underwent an MRI. It showed he has a subscapularis muscle strain in his right shoulder.

Manager Terry Francona said Bieber will be shelved for two weeks and then re-evaluated.

“We’re still obviously reaching out for more information and sending the images to different doctors and things like that, trying to get the best information we can,” Francona said. “So, for right now we know it’s no-throw for a couple of weeks.”

The Indians placed Bieber on the injured list for the first time in his career and recalled reliever Kyle Nelson from Triple-A Columbus.

In just his fourth season, Bieber has quickly developed into one of baseball’s best pitchers. Last season, the right-hander led the majors in wins (8), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122) – a rare triple crown for pitchers.

American League

Boston 2, Toronto 1: Rafael Devers hit a line drive off the Green Monster in the bottom of the ninth inning after Vladimir Guerrero homered to tie it in the top half, and the Boston Red Sox bounced back from their worst loss of the season to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 on Monday night.

Matt Barnes was two strikes away from finishing off a combined three-hit shutout when Guerrero homered 451 feet onto Lansdowne Street to tie the game 1-all. It was his major league-leading 22nd home run of the season, and his fourth in as many games.

But Alex Verdugo, who drove in Boston’s first run, and J.D. Martinez singled off Rafael Dolis (1-3) to lead off the bottom of the ninth. One out later, Devers banged one off the wall in left-center; he stopped before reaching second to receive the congratulations of his teammates pouring out of the dugout, and was credited with a single.

One day after the Blue Jays hit eight home runs – a record for a visiting team at 109-year-old Fenway Park – in an 18-4 romp, Nathan Eovaldi took a one-hitter into the seventh. He held them to three hits and a walk in all, while striking out four in 6 2/3 innings.