Detroit Tigers silenced again by Cleveland Guardians and Shane Bieber, 8-1

For the second time this week, Cleveland Guardians starter Shane Bieber had his way with the Detroit Tigers.

He fired eight innings of one-run ball on 94 pitches.

"He controlled the day," manager A.J. Hinch said.

The Tigers succumbed to Bieber, losing 8-1 in the second of three games against the Guardians at Comerica Park, after Friday's contest was postponed due to rain. Designated hitter Miguel Cabrera was pulled in the eighth inning for pinch-hitter Eric Haase due to lower back tightness.

Detroit enters Sunday's rubber match with a 16-29 record.

"Bieber was really good today," outfielder Robbie Grossman said. "We just got to come back out here tomorrow and put our best foot forward. ... We just got to score runs."

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Right-hander Alex Faedo, opposing Bieber, made the fifth start of his MLB career, and his second straight start against the Guardians. He allowed two runs across six innings in Saturday's outing, throwing 94 pitches.

It marked Faedo's first six-inning start in the big leagues. He became the first pitcher since Steven Matz in 2015 to reach five innings and allow two runs or less in each of his first five career starts.

Six days ago, Faedo held the Guardians to two runs over 5⅓ innings.

Bieber, on the other end of Monday's pitching matchup, allowed three runs (two earned runs) over seven innings. This time, the 26-year-old improved upon his previous performance: one run on eight hits and no walks with five strikeouts in eight innings.

Seven of those eight hits were singles.

"The results weren't good," Hinch said. "We tried to be aggressive. We saw him a couple days ago. He challenged us in the strike zone and did a good job. His secondary stuff was really good. His fastball was good."

The Tigers scored their lone run in the seventh inning.

Harold Castro doubled off a fastball from Bieber, advanced to third base on Jeimer Candelario's groundout and crossed home plate on Willi Castro's sacrifice fly to center.

Biebs battles

Once again, Bieber cruised past the Tigers.

The Tigers showed aggression, swinging early in counts, but Bieber induced soft contact for easy outs. He recorded 11 swings and misses, including six with his slider and four with his curveball.

Detroit's average exit velocity against him: 82.6 mph.

"He got some early-count outs, and that's the danger of being super aggressive against the guy," Hinch said. "If he going to get outs, he's going to stay in the game a long time. If you can get to him, then great, but he didn't walk a guy. We couldn't really put much together against him."

Facing Bieber and closer Emmanuel Clase on Saturday, Detroit's offense totaled one run, 10 hits, six strikeouts and one walk. After Bieber's eight innings, Clase ended the game with a scoreless ninth, but not before loading the bases with two outs.

After singles by the Castros, and a walk by Daz Cameron, Clase struck out Tucker Barnhart on a foul tip.

"I accumulated a lot of (expletive) that was negative for us," Barnhart said. "Whenever that's the case, it sucks. When a team beats you, and you have opportunities, myself included twice, it's tough."

Javier Báez, signed to a six-year, $140 million contract in December, finished 0-for-4 and saw six total pitches. He has a .199 batting average — with three home runs — in 36 games this season.

The Tigers grounded into inning-ending double plays in the first and second innings. Cabrera, hitting .294 in 40 games, did so in the first, followed by Candelario in the second. Bieber needed 13 pitches for his first six outs, and 36 pitches for his first 12 outs.

In the fifth inning, three straight two-out singles from Candelario, Willi Castro and Cameron loaded the bases.

Barnhart struck out swinging on three pitches.

"We were close to getting a big hit and changing the outcome of this game," Hinch said. "You got to put yourself in as many positions as you can to score. This has not been an easy start to the season for us."

Faedo's faulty fourth

The Guardians scored two runs off Faedo in the fourth inning.

The 26-year-old opened the frame with a four-pitch walk to Jose Ramirez, who stole second base with one out. Josh Naylor scored Ramirez, giving the Guardians a 1-0 lead, with a double to center field on a 1-2 changeup.

With two outs, Richie Palacios drilled an RBI single to left on a 1-2 changeup, making it 2-0 Cleveland. Faedo, after using 40 pitches through the first three innings, needed 23 pitches to complete the fourth.

"I thought they hit a couple good pitches that they took advantage of," Faedo said. "A couple changeups that were a tad up, when I needed to get them down a little bit more. But tip the cap to them. They got me that inning."

Faedo refused to let the fourth-inning mishap ruin his outing. He came back with a perfect fifth inning and worked around a two-out double in the sixth to conclude his Saturday.

"I definitely think the last two innings were the best I threw the ball," Faedo said. "I felt a little more behind the baseball, a little stronger with it. I'm going to try to build off that."

For his 94 pitches (59 strikes), Faedo fired 47 fastballs, 30 sliders and 17 changeups. He got six swings and misses: three fastballs, two sliders and one changeup. He also had 19 called strikes.

Jose Ramirez tags bullpen

After Faedo exited, the Guardians wrecked the Tigers' bullpen for a four-run seventh inning.

Right-hander Jacob Barnes took over on the mound, and the first batter he faced — Palacios — doubled to left-center field. Cameron dropped the ball in center, but the result was ruled a double instead of an error.

Austin Hedges' sacrifice bunt advanced Palacios to third base, and Barnes walked Myles Straw and Steven Kwan to load the bases.

The ever-dangerous Ramirez stepped to the plate.

"He's one of the best players in the big leagues across the board," Hinch said. "Very dangerous, controls the strike zone, no panic, power, speed, defense, All-Star every year. He demonstrated all that today."

The Tigers replaced Barnes with right-hander Jason Foley, who fell behind 2-0 in the count. Ramirez smacked his third-pitch sinker down the first-base line and into the right-field corner for a three-run triple.

Just like that, the Guardians were ahead 5-0. Ramirez scored on Naylor's RBI single for another run.

"He's really tough to deal with," Hinch said. "He's a problem every time you play against him. You hope that he's not seeing the ball. When you fall behind him like we did with the bases loaded, it's a death sentence."

Right-hander Drew Carlton pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He returned for the ninth, and Ramirez hammered his 12th home run of the season. The two-run blast, on an 0-1 sinker from Carlton, put the Guardians up 8-1.

Carlton got his six outs but blew through 36 pitches.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers silenced again by Cleveland's Shane Bieber, 8-1