© Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports
Alek Manoah Comes Clutch With Blue Jays' Season Hanging in the Balance
The Blue Jays are in a must-win stretch. With a half-dozen games remaining, every inning, every out, and every pitch carries significant weight. Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah knows that, but it doesn't change his approach.
"Every time I take the mound, in my head it's a must-win game," Manoah said.
Take the sixth inning of Sunday's 5-2 win over the Twins as a high-pressure example. After an error and a hit-by-pitch threated to derail his outing, Manoah locked himself in. With the winning run at the plate, the Blue Jays' starter busted a fastball up-and-in to get big-bopper Miguel Sanó to fly out.
"He looks forward to moments like that," manager Charlie Montoyo said of Manoah. "If he gets in trouble, he steps off the mound ... and he says, 'Okay, here we go.' Then he makes big pitches. He doesn't get nervous. And you don't teach that. He has it."
Manoah fought through some early shaky command to leave the bullpen with a straight path to victory. The big right-hander rolled two double plays, neutralized the Twins' power to a 84-mph average exit velocity—three miles below Manoah's season average—and pitched 5 2/3 strong innings.
He cracked out the good slider in the fourth inning, getting Twins catcher Mitch Garver to swing through three spinners in a row and then sat down Nick Gordon with that pitch to end the inning. The 23-year-old would later undress ex-Blue Jay Josh Donaldson with another perfect slider to record his eighth and final strikeout of the game.
Manoah said his other off-speed set up those nasty sliders.
"I think the changeup was pretty effective today to lefties," he said. "And I was able to throw some pretty good ones to righties too. Some slipped away, but I think the changeup kind of kept the slider in the back of their mind. And then when I finally was able to throw [the slider], they were a little hesitant on it."
But a good starting pitcher is nothing without his offense, and Toronto kicked things off with a bloop-bloop-blast sequence in the second inning. Catcher Danny Jansen, who's been one of the Jays' hottest hitters in September, punished a high fastball for a three-run blast to deep left-center field.
For as encouraging as Jansen's resurgence has been, the Blue Jays saw one of their big stars officially put his slump behind him. For the second game in a row, leadoff man George Springer hit a home run, this time a solo shot to center field to boost the Jays' lead to three runs.
"George is a superstar," Jansen said. "And he's putting a lot of work in. Obviously he had a tough patch, but the guy works and he's going to continue to do so. At the top of the order, the leadoff hitter, he's going to do everything he can to help the team win."
In hindsight, a series split isn't a desirable outcome, but, given how hollow the first two games felt, two straight wins is a big accomplishment. The Blue Jays' best players—Springer and Marcus Semien especially—are hitting their stride at the right time. Toronto will move one game back of the AL wild card by the end of the day, as the most important series of the season lurks aound the corner.
There was notable news before the game, too, as Toronto rearranged its starting rotation for a massive series versus the Yankees beginning Tuesday at Rogers Centre.
Hyun Jin Ryu is expected to return from the injured list and start Tuesday, José Berríos goes Wednesday, and Robbie Ray will start the series finale on Thursday. Of note, this alignment sets up Berríos for a Game 163, and Ray for the AL wild-card game.
For now, though, the focus remains on playing winning baseball. And if the Blue Jays get to do that in front of a home crowd, that's a bonus.
"We're excited about the energy," Manoah said. "We're excited about the Rogers Centre being packed and we're excited for the big series. We're ready to go. It's that time of the year. It's go time right now. So we're ready to go out there and compete, give it all we got, and give everybody in Toronto a good showing at home."
