Shane Bieber pitched eight shutout innings and entered the major league record books with 13 more strikeouts as the Cleveland Indians blanked the Minnesota Twins 2-0 Thursday night at Minneapolis.
Bieber, who set a franchise Opening Day record with 14 strikeouts over six shutout innings in a 2-0 victory against Kansas City on Friday, allowed just three singles. His 27 strikeouts in his first two starts of the season tied the modern era (since 1901) MLB record set by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954.
Bieber (2-0) left after throwing 102 pitches, 69 of which were strikes. He has allowed just seven hits and a walk in 14 innings this season.
James Karinchak pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his first big-league save. 
Jose Berrios (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out six and also hit a batter.
Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on Francisco Lindor’s second home run of the season, a 409-foot drive to right-center to bring home Jose Ramirez, who had singled to start the two-out rally.
The Indians had a chance to extend the lead in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with one out against reliever Zack Littell. 
Franmil Reyes singled to left and then went to third on Bradley Zimmer’s infield single and a throwing error by first baseman Miguel Sano.
Domingo Santana then walked to load the bases, but Littell got out of the jam when he got catcher Sandy Leon on a comebacker to start a 1-2-3 double play.
The Twins’ best scoring chance against Bieber came in the bottom half of the inning when Byron Buxton and Max Kepler had back-to-back one-out singles. 
But Bieber rebounded to strike out Josh Donaldson and then retired Jorge Polanco on a long fly ball to center. Cleveland became the first team ever to have starters strike out 10 or more batters four times through the first seven games of the 
season.

Cardinals-Brewers game postponed due to Covid-19 cases
The Milwaukee Brewers called off yesterday’s scheduled Major League Baseball home game against St. Louis after the visiting Cardinals had two players test positive for Covid-19.
The Cardinals were isolating in their hotel ahead of additional testing and contact tracing as MLB announced they would play as scheduled today at Milwaukee and make up yesterday’s game as part of a Sunday doubleheader.
“The rescheduling as a result of two positive Covid-19 tests in the Cardinals’ organisation is consistent with protocols to allow enough time for additional testing and contact tracing to be conducted,” MLB said in a statement.
The coronavirus pandemic postponed the start of the campaign from March until last week, each team playing only 60 games instead of a usual 162.
“We’re supportive of MLB’s decision to postpone today’s game and look forward to playing our home opener as soon as conditions safely allow,” the Brewers said in a statement. The Cardinals, 2-3, are coming off a series at Minnesota, having last played on Wednesday. 
The postponement for the first MLB outbreak outside the East Coast means six of 30 clubs will be idled Friday due to the virus.
The Miami Marlins have been off since Monday after positive Covid19 tests during their opening weekend of games at Philadelphia.
The Marlins were quarantined at a Philadelphia hotel after a reported 18 players and two coaches tested positive, including a third player in three days yesterday, ESPN reported.
That wiped out a planned three-game series against Washington in Miami this weekend. The Phillies have not played since facing the Marlins after two ballpark clubhouse attendants and a coach tested positive.
The New York Yankees did not play a planned series at Philadelphia over concerns about contracting the virus in the visitors’ locker room and a planned weekend series between the Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays was also scrapped.
The Phillies said yesterday that no new positives were reported from testing on Thursday but the ballpark remains closed until further notice.