TORONTO – Alek Manoah’s start days have taken on a slightly different aura these last few weeks. As the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander trended in the wrong direction by piling up one struggling outing after another, the chatter surrounding him certainly grew louder.
Sure, it’s only May, but asking what exactly was going on with the 2022 American League Cy Young finalist was a fair question.
For those reasons, it would be understandable if Manoah and Blue Jays let out a sigh of relief following his work in a 6-5 extra-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday in front of 41,611 at Rogers Centre.
While Saturday ended in a loss, it did include a step in the right direction for Manoah. The right-hander looked shaky in the opening frame, 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.
His outing might have lasted longer if not for an apparent blunder by Blue Jays manager John Schneider in an eventful sixth inning.
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 walked back to the mound and removed Manoah, who immediately dropped his head, before smiling to himself as he walked into the dugout.
It was 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 threat.
Manaoh pitched to Danny Jansen on Saturday as the Blue Jays tried to shake things up for the struggling 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.
“Kirky and him have worked really well together,” Schneider said before the game. “And I think it’s just a good time to just change that up.”
Offensively, that move paid dividends, with Jansen — who has been swinging a hot bat during this homestand — delivering a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning. The Blue Jays added to that lead by plating two runs in the seventh inning. 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 game remained tied until the 10th-inning, 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 Orioles closer Felix Bautista, who tossed two scoreless innings to record the win.
Not lost in the turbulent finish was Manoah’s work. 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, both 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 during a day in which, at the least, he can take positives forward to his next outing.
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 … Later in the 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.
