TORONTO – An encouraging sign for the Toronto Blue Jays when it comes to Alek Manoah is that, for the second time after a rough outing, the rookie right-hander corrected in his next turn out. A concerning and recurring issue is that a four-run lead with five outs to go wasn’t safe, even against the dreadful Baltimore Orioles.
A 6-5 loss Friday in 10 innings – secured when Trent Thornton walked in the go-ahead run one pitch after Randal Grichuk couldn’t snare Pat Valaika’s foul fly – turned a night of promise into a night of dread for the Blue Jays, left to make sense of their latest bullpen blip.
“You cannot come in from the bullpen and walk people,” lamented manager Charlie Montoyo, who watched Tyler Chatwood walk the first two batters he faced in the eighth and then Thornton hand out three more free passes in the 10th. “Five walks in the last three innings? That’s just too many.”
Cole Sulser walked Bo Bichette walked to lead off the bottom of the 10th but Vladimir Guerrero Jr., hit into a double play before Teoscar Hernandez struck out, ending both the Blue Jays’ five-game win streak and the Orioles’ 20-game road losing streak.
The ugly end came after Manoah delivered six solid innings in what could easily have turned into a loaded rematch against the Orioles. Last weekend at Camden Yards, he gave up four homers in 3.1 innings before the benches cleared when he hit Maikel Franco, an act Major League Baseball deemed intentional and deserving of a five-game suspension.
He immediately appealed the discipline levied Tuesday – a videoconference hearing must take place within 10 days of registration – and kept the return engagement under his thumb, allowing an unearned run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
“Just like every other outing,” Manoah said of facing the Orioles again. “Go out there, attack, make pitches. It’s still 60 feet, six inches, it’s still baseball. So kind of just forget about all that, just go pitch and let all that stuff take care of itself.”
Backed by George Springer’s first home run since returning from the injured list, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s major-league-leading 25th homer, a Lourdes Gurriel Jr., RBI single, and a two-run Marcus Semien double, the Blue Jays were poised for a sixth straight win.
But late game drama is always within reach of their bullpen.
Tyler Chatwood, pitching better of late, got the ball in the eighth and walked his first two batters and given that one of them was the always-eager-to-swing Freddy Galvis, it was clear that he was off. Chatwood recovered to strikeout Trey Mancini, but Ryan Mountcastle followed with a base hit to cash in Cedric Mullins.
Though closer Jordan Romano was warming at that point, the Blue Jays brought in Tayler Saucedo, who promptly gave up an RBI single to Anthony Santander and a game-tying, two-run double to Austin Hays. After Franco flew out to centre, Romano came in and struck out Pat Valaika to end the frame.
“We’re not going to have Jordan for two innings,” said Montoyo. “The only way Jordan was going to pitch was for four outs. So somebody has got to get outs before Jordan comes in. You start using Jordan for two (innings), he’s going to get hurt and he’s been pitching a lot lately. So he was going to get four outs.”
Romano worked around a one-out Mullins double in the ninth, getting Galvis on a long flyout and Mancini swinging to preserve the tie. Then Thornton walked three batters in the 10th including Valaika to push across the winning run.
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The Blue Jays lost for only the third time this season when leading at the start of the eighth, and they blew this one trying to use their most reliable leverage relievers right now. Tim Mayza did his job in the seventh while Romano was strong in getting another four outs, but Chatwood once again hit the wall after an extended run of solid outings.
“When you walk that many people in the (late) innings, you’re probably going to not win those games,” said Montoyo.
Up until that point, Manoah’s rebound was the key takeaway given all the drama surrounding his previous outing. Having already surrendered a pair of solo shots, Ryan Mountcastle and DJ Stewart went back-to-back in the fourth inning and Manoah’s next pitch was right at Franco’s shoulder.
Regardless of intent it looked bad, Franco turned toward him and the benches emptied. Once the situation calmed, Manoah was ejected and immediately began berating the umpires, prompting Montoyo to run out and keep his pitcher from making things worse.
The entire episode was symbolic of Manoah’s youth – he’s just 23 – relative inexperience and raging emotional cauldron. His fervour is part of what makes him such a presence on the mound, but properly harnessing all that energy will be pivotal for him to reach his ceiling.
Friday was a good step in that regard.
“It’s an emotional deal when he’s facing the same team that he had problems with a week ago and he did a great job,” said Montoyo. “He’s got to be careful pitching inside, because if he hits somebody else, they might think something is going on. So it’s not easy to pitch under that. And he passed the test.”
Manoah’s fastball averaged 94.2 m.p.h., touched 96 and generated seven whiffs. His slider was swung through five teams, was called a strike eight others and generally had the bite it lacked last time out.
And, most importantly, he didn’t allow any innings to unravel on him, working around a Galvis single and Mountcastle walk in the first, inducing a Galvis double-play ball with men on the corners and none out in the third and striking out Hays with two on and two out in the sixth.
Manoah did the same thing after the Miami Marlins grinded him out for four runs on four hits and three walks June 2, holding the Chicago White Sox to two runs, one earned, over five battled-through-them innings in an outing impressive for his resilience.
On both occasions Manoah watched video, “trying to find some tweaks,” while keeping in mind that “the bad outing is not who I am.” The adjustment this time was in “letting out my shoulders a little bit and getting some more extension – not dropping my back shoulder and my arm being late a little bit. I was able to not miss arm-side as much today and try to focus on the bottom of the zone.”
When Manoah pitches next is unclear. His turn comes up again Thursday against Seattle but if his suspension is upheld, or if he drops the appeal, he won’t be eligible. Robbie Ray is slated to pitch the opener versus the Mariners on Tuesday with Steven Matz due to come off the COVID-19 IL on Wednesday.
The Blue Jays could bring back Hyun-Jin Ryu on regular rest for Thursday, but if they opt to save him for the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays instead, Anthony Kay could cover the Thursday outing. That would set up Ryu, Manoah and Ray for the AL East leaders.
All that will be sorted pending the results of the appeal.
“I have no clue,” he replied, when asked where things stand with his appeal. “Just kind of been focused on doing my job out there. We’ll talk to the team and my agency and stuff like that and we’ll figure it out.”
As has been often said in recent weeks, the Blue Jays need to do that with their bullpen, too.
