LOS ANGELES — Shane Bieber was not deterred by watching what Shohei Ohtani had done the night before.
Ohtani hit a pair of home runs and he doubled twice, and then the Toronto Blue Jays simply stopped messing with the Dodgers’ two-way star, walking him five times in the 18-inning marathon.
Just when it seemed Ohtani might not see another strike in the series, Bieber went after him. He did walk him once, very unintentionally, and he struck him out twice.
Bieber gave up one run in 5⅓ innings, picking up the victory as the Blue Jays evened the best-of-seven series, 2-2.
“Bieber pitched really well,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “He attacked really at the edge and was able to execute, location-wise.”
Bieber, a product of Laguna Hills High and UC Santa Barbara, spoke before Game 3 about how excited he was to have the opportunity to come back to Southern California for his first World Series experience.
Over the rest of the day, the situation changed. Bieber saw the end of Monday’s game from the bullpen, preparing to possibly enter as the Blue Jays’ last hope. When the Blue Jays lost without using him, he shifted his mindset back to starting Game 4, but he did so knowing that the Blue Jays desperately needed a victory and he needed to save the spent bullpen.
And he needed to figure out how to handle Ohtani.
Before the game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was asked if he’d go so far as to intentionally walk Ohtani in his first trip to lead off the first inning.
Schneider replied: “I haven’t decided yet.” He might have been only half-joking.
Bieber did walk Ohtani in the first inning, but he challenged him. He said he actually thought the 3-and-2 pitch might have been a strike.
In their next two meetings, Bieber struck out Ohtani. He got him swinging through a changeup in the third inning. In the fifth, Bieber struck him out on three pitches, including a called third strike on a knuckle curve.
“I don’t want to give in to anybody, especially not Shohei or the Dodgers in the World Series,” Bieber said. “So I think one through nine – not just him specifically, but they’re a fantastic lineup, one through nine. They can all do damage, and so we tried our best to move the ball up, down, left, right, and throw all five pitches for strikes and just off the edge of the zone. I thought we were able to establish that after the first or second inning.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who answered questions about the Dodgers’ relatively stagnant offense, said in this case Bieber and the Blue Jays played a part.
“They made good pitches,” Roberts said. “There were some backdoor cutters, some breaking balls crowding him a little bit, and I thought his intent tonight at the plate was good. But you look back at those at-bats, they made good pitches on him. They really did.”
Bieber and the Blue Jays were clinging to a 2-1 lead as he took the mound in the sixth. Bieber gave up a leadoff single to Freddie Freeman. He then got Will Smith on a fly ball to center.
Schneider came to the mound as Teoscar Hernandez was coming to the plate. After a quick chat, the manager left Bieber in the game. Hernandez singled on the next pitch, which did end Bieber’s night.
Although the tying and go-ahead runs were on base, Bieber was bailed out by left-hander Mason Fluharty. He got Max Muncy on a fly ball to center and he struck out Tommy Edman on three pitches, preserving Bieber’s shot at a victory.
“He came in focused,” Schneider said of Bieber. “He came in like a veteran pitcher should. I thought he settled into the game really well. After the run, the sac fly to Kiké (Hernandez in the second), I thought he kind of got a little bit better with his breaking stuff, and he made pitches, man. It was fun to watch him navigate that. I’m really happy for him for the last year-and-a-half journey he’s been on. To go out there and do that, that was awesome.”
The 30-year-old Bieber now has a strong World Series start to add to his resume as he hits the free agent market this winter.
The 2020 American League Cy Young Award winner, Bieber has started just 11 games – including four in the postseason – since coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Last season he had to watch from the dugout as his Cleveland Guardians got to the American League Championship Series, because he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
“It’s bittersweet,” Bieber said of last October’s experience. “It’s hard as an athlete to not be able to contribute. So I was hoping for moments like this a year later, and sure enough here I find myself.”