Bieber Looks to Shut Down the Astros as Indians Look for Fourth Straight ‘W’; The Tribe Starting Nine

The Indians moved to 5-0 on the season against the two top teams in the AL West with a 6-3 win Friday night over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Saturday the team will look for their fourth straight win as they send Shane Bieber on the mound to go up against righty Brad Peacock (2-1, 4.29 ERA) for Houston.

Bieber is looking to rebound after his awful start Easter Sunday night against the Braves in a Tribe 11-5 setback.

The righty enters play Saturday with a mark of 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA. Against the Braves Bieber allowed five runs over 2.1 innings.

It will mark the first career appearance against the Astros for Bieber, who did not face Houston during his rookie campaign in 2018.

Friday Francisco Lindor slammed a pair of homers in the teams’ 6-3 win, as Corey Kluber got the start, but Adam Cimber threw 1.2 innings to get the win to move to 2-1.

The Tribe hit four homers on the night, two from Lindor, and blasts each from Carlos Gonzalez and Leonys Martin.

Here’s today’s starting nine for the Indians:

CF Leonys Martin
3B Jose Ramirez
LF Carlos Gonzalez
1B Carlos Santana
2B Jason Kipnis
DH Jake Bauers
RF Tyler Naquin
C Kevin Plawecki
SS Mike Freeman

And here’s the Stros starting Nine:

CF George Springer
2B Jose Altuve
3B Alex Bregman
LF Michael Brantley
SS Carlos Correa
RF Josh Reddick
1B Yuli Gurriel
DH Aldemys Diaz
C Max Stassi