Shane Bieber breaks MLB record for strikeouts in first two starts of a season

Looking at this game, you may not know that the Minnesota Twins are one of the deadliest offenses in baseball.

Looking at this picture, you may not know that Josh Donaldson is a former MVP who still has a lot in the tank.

Shane Bieber, a human-buzzsaw hybrid, made everyone at the Twins’ shelter seem lost on the plate, and some, like our dear friend Josh Donaldson, seemed completely dumb.

If there is anyone left on Earth who doesn’t know about Bieber, they sure know now. The 25-year-old gentle man put his name on the map during last year’s All-Star Game, and his last two performances have made it impossible not to consider him a Cy Young candidate.

He followed up his stellar season debut against the Royals with even better performance against an increasingly better opponent tonight: 8.0 IP, 13 SO, 0 BB, 3H.

Nor is it that Bieber has done something new. His four-seam fastball was so well placed and his curved ball (classified as a knuckle curve by Baseball Savant) threw the Twins out of balance enough that they couldn’t figure it out.

At first, the formula was simple: get ahead with a fastball, then throw a few corners or whatever until they head down. When you can use your fastball to paint the edges like this (note there are three shades in this graphic), it really doesn’t matter what else you do.

For the fifth inning, the Twins thought they had beaten Bieber and started attacking his fastballs early. No problem: You turned it on and it was heavier at the beginning of the count. Nineteen of his 34 corners came from the fifth inning onward, and five of them came on the first pitch. Only four in total were put into play the entire game.

With another outstanding start to his credit, Bieber tied the Major League Baseball record for strikeouts in the first two starts of a season. He surpassed Nolan Ryan in the same category and now sits on top of the mountain with Karl Spooner.

Dodgers’ opening day starter in 1954, Karl Spooner struck out 27 batters in his first two starts as well. Unfortunately, those were the only strikeouts (and starts) he had that year and left baseball just over a year later. Bieber is on his way to being a little luckier than ‘Ole Spooner’.

Tonight Twitter was packed with Shane Bieber’s tidbits, but this is probably my favorite:

He has a negative FIP. HAS A NEGATIVE FIP. Amazing.

We can celebrate Bieber’s achievement tonight thanks in part to Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez. Without the latter reaching base and the former hitting a ball 409 feet from Target Field to give the Indians their only runs, we could head to the 12th inning right now. Or worse, I’ve already lost thanks to the new extra innings rule.

Fortunately, with a hand advantage, Terry Francona turned to James Karinchak to close the game, and he did it with Bieber’s efficiency. Three fastballs, three corners and a Twins offense that seemed ready to go home got his wish.