X-Rays Negative After Blue Jays Manoah Hit By Comebacker

Manoah left Friday's game against the Tigers with an elbow contusion and precautionary X-Rays came back negative, per the Blue Jays.

Alek Manoah has been the unmovable object at the top of the Blue Jays rotation.

He entered Tuesday with a 2.24 ERA, has made every start this year, and leads the team in innings pitched. But in the fifth inning of Friday's game, Toronto's most reliable arm had a scare when Manoah was struck with a comebacker.

"I think it was just the initial shock or reaction, you know, kind of got me clean on the arm," Manoah said. "But after that, once I realized it really wasn't that painful or anything, I tried to fight to stay in."

A Jonathan Schoop one-hop grounder bounced up and struck Manoah in the right arm. Instantly wincing and grabbing at his pitching elbow, Manoah left the game after a lengthy conversation with Blue Jays trainer Jose Ministral, later diagnosed with an elbow contusion. The righty underwent precautionary X-Rays, which came back negative, per the Blue Jays.

"Honestly I didn't even think I needed an X-Ray," Manoah said. "But they wanted to do a precautionary and everything was negative, everything's clean. So get back on the horse and back out there in five days."

With 126 innings under his belt in 2022, Manoah is quickly approaching a career-high in innings pitched. Before Friday's game, manager John Schneider talked about managing Manoah's workload down the stretch and his continued strength as the season goes on.

"There will be times where we'll be, not careful but you know, smart about it," Schneider said. "If we don't have to push."

In Friday's start, Manoah pitched 5.1 innings against the Tigers. He left the contest with four earned runs against on four strikeouts, one walk, and seven hits.