Josh Naylor homered in his first game back from the COVID injured list but the Cleveland Guardians’ lineup failed to do much else in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber leaned heavily on his breaking pitches to keep the Tigers at bay, throwing his slider almost as often as threw his fastball. But the real difference in this outing, which saw Bieber record a season-high 10 strikeouts, was his knuckle curve.
Though Bieber did get off to a rocky start, issuing a leadoff walk to Robbie Grossman in the first inning and then an RBI double to Miguel Cabrera to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.