Alek Manoah Sets Blue Jays Record with Seven Straight K's

The Blue Jays rookie used his vicious slider to carve through Tampa Bay hitters in the 11-1 win.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Francisco Mejía had no clue what happened. 

He was called out — his check swing ruled a full swing — but Mejía, like much of the Rays offense on Friday, left the box baffled.

The slider was so filthy that Mejía committed to swing on a pitch that nicked his back foot. Hit-by-pitch or not, Meijia swung, which capped off seven consecutive strikeouts for Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah — a franchise record.

The 23-year-old didn't allow a base-hit until the sixth inning in what was by far his best major league outing to date. Manoah tossed seven scoreless innings in the 11-1 Blue Jays' win at Sahlen Field, allowing just three hits, walking one and punching out 10 batters. 

Manoah also threw a major league career-high 109 pitches and worked out of a jam in the seventh inning. 

"The biggest thing was Charlie being able to leave me out there and trust that I had to stuff to get out of it," Manoah said.

"For me, that was a confidence booster. I knew I had the the stuff, the will, the competitiveness, everything was feeling good." 

From the middle of the first inning to the end of the third, Manoah wasn't just unhittable, he was literally untouchable. His slider — which accounted for eight of his 10 strikeouts — baffled Rays hitters all night. In Manoah's handful of big-league starts, the slider's been a more horizontal-breaking pitch. On Friday, the right-hander added an extra inch of vertical movement to his slider — giving the pitch some extra swing-and-miss while also keeping it buried in the zone.

The key to success with the slider, Manoah said, was trusting that it's a quality pitch.

"Just throw it and attack it, don't try and place it or back foot it," Manoah said. "It's a really good pitch and I'm just trying to attack with it."

Manoah was Friday's MVP, but everything began with a deep drive to center field in the first inning by newly-anointed cleanup man George Springer. 

Springer pointed to the sky as he stomped on home plate and celebrated his fourth homer of the year — a 406-foot laser to dead centre. Springer gave Bo Bichette a high-five, then shook hands and shimmied with Teoscar Hernández.

Hernández hit cleanup in all 60 games he's played this season, but on Friday night, manager Charlie Montoyo — who previously said he wanted Springer to get more at-bats before moving him up lineup — made a change. 

"After watching [Springer] having good at bats, I said, okay, that's perfect timing to hit him cleanup behind Vladdy," Montoyo said.

"And now I got Teo behind Springer. So they're all covered," he said. 

It was a subtle, but effective adjustment to an already deadly Blue Jays batting order. Springer's home run carried momentum into the second frame, where Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Reese McGuire drove in two of four Blue Jay runs in the inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien — two of Toronto's All-Star Game starters — both homered in the seventh inning. Tampa Bay put outfielder Brett Phillips in to pitch the eighth inning as the game pivoted from decisive victory to absolute blowout. 

On nights like Friday — where consistent offense collides with unhittable starting pitching — the Blue Jays look like a playoff team. Replicating that type of performance, however, is where Toronto has struggled. Friday's win is certainly a great starting point and, with 11 of the next 14 games coming against American League East opponents, the timing for a hot streak couldn't be any sweeter.