Shane Bieber passes first test as a Blue Jay, cruises through debut start

It was one of the most anticipated debuts in recent Toronto Blue Jays memory. Former Cy Young award winner Shane Bieber finally got to put on a Toronto uniform and toe the rubber for the Blue Jays on Friday night in Miami. The 30 year-old cruised through the Marlins lineup in a debut that could not have gone any better.

Bieber went six innings, allowed just two hits, including a solo home run, with nine strikeouts and no walks, as the Blue Jays topped the Marlins 5-2. Right from the get-go Bieber looked like he hadn't missed a step, despite it being nearly 500 days since his last outing at the MLB level.

He started the game with back-to-back strikeouts, getting Xavier Edwards to swing at an 82.6 mph knuckle curve in the dirt, before coming back at Jakob Marsee with a seven pitch battle that ended with an 89.3 mph low changeup that Marsee swung over.

Bieber's location was on point all night. He struck out the side in the fourth, and he had two more during his final inning in the sixth. He got many Marlins to swing over the top of pitches that were nowhere near the zone, and that was by design, as he carved up nine of the Marlins before ending his day and handing a 5-1 lead to the bullpen.

It's a good start for Bieber as it likely will only get harder from this point forward. It's one thing to put together an outing like this against the Marlins, it will be another when Toronto gets into the thick of the schedule against teams like the Brewers, the Yankees, and the Astros, all coming up over the next three weeks.

But if Bieber is able to replicate this performance against those types of opponents, the Blue Jays will have found themselves a player who could truly get them over the hump and have them playing games deep into October.