CLEVELAND -- One year ago, Shane Bieber was standing in the middle of Progressive Field, hoisting the All-Star Game MVP trophy above his head in front of a roaring home crowd. One year later, he took the mound in an empty ballpark to face his teammates on Thursday in the Tribe’s first intrasquad scrimmage of Summer Camp.

“It was a little different but not something that’s going to be that difficult to get used to,” Bieber said. “I felt like we had a pretty good game scenario type feel, obviously other than facing your own teammates, but things seemed pretty normal. I didn’t really notice too much out of the ordinary because you kind of lock yourself in and you’re focusing on trying to execute pitches. It will definitely be doable.”

In the home team’s (Bieber’s team) 5-3 victory in a shortened 4 1/2-inning game, Bieber tossed five frames, allowing two earned runs on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. He cruised through his first inning, striking out the side (Oscar Mercado, Tyler Naquin and Franmil Reyes). But once he hit the third, he started to run out of gas.

“It was a really long inning and he looked tired,” Indians manager Tery Francona said. “But to his credit, he fought through it, went out and got two more innings. The fact that he pitched five innings was really good and I thought he looked really sharp early.”

Bieber threw 87 pitches and expects himself to be fully stretched out in the quick 2 1/2 weeks the team has left before he makes his start on Opening Day.

“I feel good,” Bieber said. “I felt like I bounced back really well in the fifth inning there. … I wanted to go back out there and continue to throw more and I definitely felt good and ready to go. I’m ready to stretch it out.

“At this point now, I think everybody is ready to put their foot on the gas and get going and ramp up the best we can. I feel we're going to be in a really good spot because of it.”

Yu stays hot
Carlos Carrasco, Zach Plesac and now Bieber. Yu Chang started Summer Camp hot, launching a ball deep into the left-field bleachers off Carrasco on Monday afternoon that prompted Francona to joke that he's never seen Chang hit a ball so far. On Wednesday, Chang replicated that long ball off Plesac in a simulated game and then took Bieber deep in Thursday’s scrimmage.

“I don’t care if it’s January or February or we’re playing with nobody in the stands, I love seeing our guys do well,” Francona said. “He has taken four or five swings this past week that are just -- he hit a ball the other day that was, like, five rows from hitting the back wall there. It’s just really obvious that he worked hard during the time off, but I love watching him do that. Hopefully it’s really good for his confidence, because this kid’s got some talent to play.”

Although Mike Freeman and Christian Arroyo were both ahead of Chang in the utility race at the end of Spring Training, he’s not out of the running. He’ll continue to compete for a spot on the 30-man roster over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

Karinchak struggles with command
The Indians have high hopes for their up-and-coming reliever with plenty of velocity and a lethal curveball, but James Karinchak still has to prove he can command his fastball. In 17 games in Triple-A last season, he struck out 42 batters in 17 1/3 frames but also permitted 13 walks. He had shown improvement with locating the heater during Spring Training until he final outing before camp was shut down. In his first intrasquad appearance on Thursday, Karinchak, the club's No. 14 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, walked four batters, bringing home a run.

“That was a little difficult to watch,” Francona said. “That’s a hard way to be successful. I think I’m stating the obvious. It doesn’t take much when you walk four for them to put up a crooked number. And I know he knows that. There’s going to be some of that, the growing, the maturation process. That’s not what you’re looking for, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love this kid. We think he’s gonna be really good.”

The 2021 schedule
Just days after the 2020 schedule was officially ironed out, Major League Baseball released next year’s schedule, which has the Tribe opening in Detroit on April 1.

After playing against the National League Central in the shortened 60-game season this year, the Indians will square off against the Brewers, Reds, Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates once again in 2021. They’ll close the season with a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Texas from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3.