Back from Tommy John surgery, Shane Bieber elbows Shohei Ohtani right out of the spotlight

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shane Bieber elbowed Shohei Ohtani right out of the spotlight.

A former Cy Young Award winner who returned from Tommy John surgery just two months ago, Bieber outpitched the celebrated two-way star and struck him out twice in winning his World Series debut.

“Yeah, it was awesome,” Bieber said with a wide smile after pitching Toronto over the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Tuesday night to tie the World Series at two games apiece.

Bieber nearly made his first Fall Classic appearance in the 19th inning Monday, but the Dodgers won 6-5 on Freddie Freeman's 18th-inning home run. Max Scherzer had approached Bieber in the 11th or 12th inning about getting ready to relieve.

“Max is always one step ahead,” Bieber explained. “He was like, 'Biebs, if this gets squirrely' -- you could tell the wheels were turning — ‘and he’s like, ’Can you pitch?'”

So Bieber told manager John Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker he was available, and Bieber warmed up in the 18th.

“I was definitely amped up,” he said. “Potentially, I was thinking about my first big league save, and in the World Series. That would have been very cool.”

Bieber got back to the team hotel at 1 a.m. and dozed off about 45-60 minutes later. But not for long.

“I didn’t sleep very well," he said.

His first batter was Ohtani, who reached nine times on Monday with two homers, two doubles and five walks.

Bieber walked him on a full count with an outside corner changeup that could have been strike three. He struck out Ohtani in the third on a changeup at the outside corner and froze him with a knuckle curve for a called third strike in the fifth, a three-pitch at-bat that left Ohtani shaking his head.

“He attacked really at the edge and was able to execute location-wise," Ohtani said through a translator.

A 30-year-old right-hander who went to high school in nearby Laguna Hills, Bieber was drafted by Cleveland in 2016. He made it to the majors two years later and became an All-Star in 2019. He was a unanimous winner of the AL Cy Young Award for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he led the major leagues with a 1.68 ERA.

He missed more than two months in 2023 with elbow issues, pitched 12 scoreless innings while striking out 20 in his first two outings in 2024, then had Tommy John surgery in April 2024 with Dr. Keith Meister.

Bieber felt he was making steady improvement and threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in his first minor league outing, for the Arizona Complex League Guardians on May 31. Then he experienced soreness during a bullpen session three days later and didn't pitch in a game again until July 15.

“In speaking with the medical staff in Cleveland and most specifically Dr. Keith Meister in Texas, he’s like, ‘Hey, it’s very rare for anybody to not have any sort of hiccup, so this was probably always going to happen, and your body’s just telling you it needs a couple days off,’” Bieber recounted. “I was able to get back on track after that.”

Bieber made three more minor league starts, then was dealt to the Blue Jays at the July 31 trade deadline for minor league right-hander Khal Stephen.

After three starts at Triple-A Buffalo, he returned to the major leagues for the first time in 16 1/2 months, allowing one run and two hits over six innings at Miami on Aug. 22. He made seven outings down the stretch, going 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA in helping boost Toronto to its first AL East title since 2015.

As the banged-up Blue Jays pieced together a postseason rotation without injured José Berríos, they slotted Kevin Gausman first, followed by rookie Trey Yesavage, Scherzer and Bieber, shifting Chris Bassitt to the bullpen.

Bieber is 2-0 with a 3.57 ERA in four postseason starts, the last three Blue Jays wins that included victories in Games 3 and 7 of the American League Championship Series against Seattle. His stay with Toronto might be a short one, since he's likely to turn down a player option for 2026 and become a free agent.

“These are the spots that we acquired him for,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “It’s asking a lot of him, based on what he’s been through with the recovery from the surgery and stuff. But he’s enjoying it and he’s embracing it and he’s been a huge part of us getting here.”

Bieber allowed one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings against LA, giving up Kiké Hernández's second-inning sacrifice fly after Max Muncy's walk and Tommy Edman's single put runners at the corners.

“Used the cutter, spun us, minimized damage, limited traffic, and we really didn’t get a whole lot of good swings,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Justin Bieber, the Canadian singer and songwriter, sat in the front row behind the Blue Jays dugout at Dodger Stadium. Shane says they're not related, as far as he knows.

“I used to tell people: second cousin, twice removed,” Shane said with a smirk.

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