Twins try to accomplish something new: Beating "best pitcher in baseball"

CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber has started eight games against the Twins during his career. Cleveland is 7-1 in those games, and Bieber himself is 4-0 with a 3.52 career ERA. In his Target Field start on July 30, the righthander shut out the Twins for eight innings on three hits, struck out 13 batters and walked none.

He's also 5-0 this season and his 1.11 ERA leads the majors.

Good luck to the Twins, in other words.

"I will openly say that last time we faced him, I certainly shortchanged him by saying he was one of the best young pitchers in baseball," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "This guy might be the best pitcher in baseball."

The Twins will counter with a lineup full of left-handers and switch hitters, not that that's the answer. Bieber, after all, holds lefties to a .137 average this season, and a .151 slugging percentage. Right-handers bat .214 with a .400 slugging percentage, largely due to the fact that all four homers he's given up were to right-handers.

For the Twins, Rich Hill makes his third start as a Twin. It's only his second career start against Cleveland; he allowed seven runs in four innings in a 12-5 loss back in 2017.

Here are the lineups for tonight's second game of a three-game series:

TWINS

Kepler RF

Polanco SS

Cruz DH

Rosario LF

Sano 1B

Wade CF

Gonzalez 3B

Arraez 2B

Jeffers C

Hill RHP

CLEVELAND

Hernandez 2B

Ramirez 3B

Lindor SS

C. Santana 1B

Reyes DH

Luplow LF

D. Santana RF

Perez C

DeShields CF

Bieber RHP