TORONTO – How’s this for a chaotic day at the ballpark: Multiple comebacks and game-changing home runs, a blown save and an extra-inning loss.
Oh, and, perhaps most glaringly, a major blunder by the home manager.
“Yeah, I (expletive) up,” said Toronto Blue Jays skipper John Schneider following his club’s 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday in front of a sellout of 41,611 at Rogers Centre.
Let’s begin in the eventful sixth inning, during which the game was tied 2-2. Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah, who has struggled mightily over recent starts, was in the midst of authoring a strong rebound performance.
With runners on first and second and one out, Manoah struck out Adam Frazier on a check swing. The two had words for each other, with Manoah apparently telling the Orioles second baseman to “Go that way,” as he headed toward the dugout.
Schneider popped out of the dugout for a mound chat with Manoah and the Blue Jays fielders. As he was walking off the mound, the manager was stopped by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna. It looked as though Schneider had forgotten that this was the Blue Jays’ second mound conference of the inning — pitching coach Pete Walker visited Manoah earlier in the frame and that meant Schneider had to remove the right-hander from the game.
He turned back to the mound and removed Manoah, who immediately dropped his head before smiling to himself as he walked into the dugout.
“I forgot Pete went out there,” acknowledged Schneider. “I had to take [Manoah] out because Pete had made a visit. And there was so much other stuff we were talking about — me, [Bench coach Don Mattingly] and Pete in the dugout. I kind of just lost track of the fact that he’s out of the game no matter what when I come out after already making a mound visit. So, if Pete hadn’t made the mound visit, I would have left him in there.”
Manoah shared his version of the mound conference: “There was just some silence. I had known Pete had come out there and then when [Schneider] started asking me if I wanted to stay in the game, I was like, well, maybe Pete didn’t come out here — I wasn’t sure. So, told him I wanted to stay in the game and pled my case.
“And then, as he walked away, the umpire was like, ‘Hey, that was your second visit.’ I was kind of hoping everyone just forgot about the first one. But it happens.”
It was certainly a bizarre sequence of events, immediately followed up by reliever Tim Mayza surrendering a deep fly ball to Joey Ortiz that Blue Jays centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier flagged down with a jumping catch near the wall to end the Orioles’ threat.
OK, let’s breathe.
While that entire scenario wasn’t ideal, it doesn’t take away from what was a positive outing for Manoah, who was coming off three straight rocky performances in which he’d allowed a total of 10 earned runs in 13.2 innings, while issuing 12 walks.
The right-hander looked shaky in the opening frame on Saturday, struggling to command the strike zone while expending 24 pitches. However, he quickly righted himself en route to a 5.2-inning performance in which he allowed two runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts over 85 pitches.
“He threw the ball really well and it’s a really good step in the right direction for Alek,” said Schneider. “I thought his command was good. Slider was back a little bit today and I thought overall, his stuff was good … hopefully, that’s what we can get out of Alek — more of what we’ve been seeing for two years.”
Manaoh pitched to Danny Jansen on Saturday as the Blue Jays tried to shake things up for the right-hander and offer him a different look. Entering the day, Alejandro Kirk had caught 279.2 of Alex Manoah’s 353.1 career innings.
He relied heavily on a sinker that topped out at 94.4 m.p.h. and generated two whiffs on 16 swings, while also mixing in his four-seam fastball and slider, each of which induced three whiffs.
Frazier tripled to right field in the second inning off Manoah on a hit that got by a diving George Springer and bounced to the wall. The Orioles’ second baseman came around to score on a single by Ryan O’Hearn and the club added to its early lead when Cedric Mullens took Manoah deep for a solo shot in the third frame.
That was all the damage Manaoh would allow.
“I just got to continue to build off that,” said Manoah. “Fastball command was good. The walks were down. When I’m in the zone early, [it]forces guys to take swings and once I get them in swing mode, the breaking pitches start to work a lot better.”
With the Blue Jays down 2-0 in the fifth, Springer belted a game-tying two-run homer to left field. In the next frame, Jansen — who’s been swinging a hot bat during this homestand — delivered a go-ahead solo shot.
The Blue Jays added to that lead by plating two runs in the seventh. However, the Orioles tied the game at 5 in the eighth frame when Ryan O’Hearn launched a three-run homer to right field off Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano.
The contest remained tied until the 10th, when Frazier advanced Ryan Mountcastle to third base on a bunt off Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia. The next batter, Austin Hays, grounded the ball to third baseman Matt Chapman, who made a nice pick but, in an attempt to retire Mountcastle at home, hit him in the back with a throw.
Mountcastle was safe at home with the winning run. The Blue Jays couldn’t muster anything off Felix Bautista, the Orioles’ dominant closer, who tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win.
The story of the day, no matter what, will be Schneider’s mistake. It’ll likely grab plenty of attention and headlines across the baseball world. And though it didn’t end up costing the Blue Jays at all and wasn’t even a factor in the end result, it’s nonetheless an unflattering look for a club that’s now dropped two straight to the Orioles, coming off three-of-four losses to the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays are 5-11 against AL East opponents this season.
“The season has so many ups and downs and right now, it’s just one of those things where everything seems like it’s not going our way,” said Schneider. “It takes one day. You got Kevin Gausman [pitching]tomorrow, which you love, and hopefully, you just win tomorrow and build off of that.”
NOTES: Blue Jays infielder Santiago Espinal left the game with right hamstring discomfort. He pulled up awkwardly to second base in the seventh inning after stealing the base. Schneider said he’ll be re-evaluated Sunday… Later in the same inning, Springer collided with Orioles shortstop Jorge Mateo on a slide after stealing second. Springer appeared to be shaken up, but stayed in the game.
