Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber experienced one of the worst outings of his career Tuesday night, walking six batters and allowing three runs in just two-thirds of an inning against the Washington Nationals. The Blue Jays ultimately lost the game 8-6.
Bieber, a former Cy Young Award winner, issued walks to six of the nine batters he faced. This included three bases-loaded walks, a rarity for the 31-year-old right-hander, whose previous career high for walks in an appearance was five. He recorded only two outs before being removed from the game.
According to Stathead/Baseball Reference, Bieber is the 11th pitcher in major league history to walk at least six batters while recording two outs or fewer. The last pitcher to achieve this was Ryan Dempster on Oct. 5, 2001. Bieber threw 42 pitches in his brief appearance, with only 15 strikes. He noted difficulty gripping the ball and struggled with command.
"You have to find a way to get through it, right, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight," Bieber said after the game. "Ultimately, I follow up what was maybe my best start as a Blue Jay with what was definitely my worst."
The first inning saw a cascade of walks. After James Wood led off with a walk, Dylan Crews and CJ Abrams also reached base. Keibert Ruiz followed with a four-pitch walk that scored the first run. Another walk to Daylen Lile pushed in a second run. After a sacrifice fly, Jorbit Vivas loaded the bases for the second time, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Pete Walker. Jacob Young then drew another walk, forcing in a fourth run, which led to manager John Schneider removing Bieber from the game.
Bieber's outing was his seventh start of the season. He had previously missed nearly three months with elbow inflammation and underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2024, limiting him to nine combined regular-season starts over the previous two seasons.
"Kind of just the last thing we thought was going to happen with him right there," Schneider said. "When you get up to that pitch count in the first, with him, with his history and everything, just didn’t want to push it."
Reliever Brendon Little entered the game and retired the next batter to end the inning.