It was a season debut to forget for Shane Bieber.
Playing in his first action this season, the Toronto Blue Jays righty was unable to make it through the fourth inning after giving up three homers to the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
Bieber ended his day having thrown 75 pitches over 3.2 innings, giving up nine hits, four earned runs, and only striking out two.
His struggles began right off the bat, as leadoff batter Jose Altuve tagged him for a double. Later on in the first inning, Isaac Paredes brought Altuve home with a single to centre field.
Though he managed to settle in the second and third innings, escaping without another run to his name, he came apart in the fourth, giving up three straight homers to Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith and Taylor Tramell.
Bieber, 31, has missed the start of the season after dealing with elbow inflammation in spring training.
He's coming off a less-than-stellar rehab start on Wednesday, where he threw 80 pitches, allowed five earned runs and 11 baserunners in five-plus innings.
A mid-season acquisition by the Blue Jays last summer, Bieber managed only seven regular-season starts with Toronto as he recovered from a Tommy John surgery he underwent the season prior, while with the Cleveland Guardians. He finished with a 3.57 ERA and 1.017 WHIP in 40.1 innings.
