Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber walks back to the dugout after he was pulled from a baseball game in the first inning against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

By The Canadian Press

Blue Jays’ Bieber struggles, walks six in first inning against Nationals

Jul 28, 2026 | 6:24 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Toronto pitcher Shane Bieber’s start against the Washington Nationals was anything but a walk in the park on Tuesday.

The former Cy Young Award winner issued walks to six of the nine batters he faced — including three with the bases loaded — before departing after two-thirds of an inning. In his previous 149 pitching appearances, the 31-year-old right-hander’s high for walks was five.

According to Stathead/Baseball Reference, Bieber is the 11th pitcher in major league history to walk at least six while recording two outs or less, and the first to do so since Florida’s Ryan Dempster on Oct. 5, 2001, at Atlanta.

Bieber is the first Cy Young winner to have such an outing, although Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Christy Mathewson did, too. Bieber won the AL Cy Young in 2020.

Bieber threw 42 pitches, with only 15 strikes. He is the second player this season to throw that many pitches with so few strikes. Kansas City’s Eric Cerantola threw 14 strikes in a 42-pitch relief outing against Tampa Bay on June 30.

Question of the Week

Should there be more City of Kamloops lifeguards monitoring the Thompson River?

Jul 27, 2026

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: July 27, 2026

Jul 27, 2026

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 WAYS TO HEAL: Unravelling protectionism

Jul 27, 2026

Washington’s James Wood led off the first with a walk, and Luis García Jr. followed with a grounder to second. Dylan Crews then earned a free pass, and CJ Abrams followed with a well-placed infield single.

The typically free-swinging Keibert Ruiz followed with a four-pitch walk that scored the first run, and Daylen Lile drew another walk that pushed in another run. Nasim Nuñez hit a sacrifice fly before Jorbit Vivas loaded the bases again with the inning’s fifth walk, prompting a mound visit from Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker.

Jacob Young then took six pitches — three balls and then two called strikes followed by a slider well outside the zone — to force in a fourth run. That prompted manager John Schneider to head to the mound and end Bieber’s outing.

Reliever Brendon Little got Wood to ground out to end the inning.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Patrick Stevens, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Click here to report an error or typo in this article

Blue Jays’ Bieber struggles, walks six in first inning against Nationals

Our Community