Blue Jays’ Manoah scores in comeback win over Rays

TORONTO — Alek Manoah always finds ways to hit the moment, no matter what circumstances get in his way. Whether it’s knocking out a division rival after one of his players ran away like on his last time out, or taking the mound 17 hours after an upset stomach like he did on Tuesday night, the big man takes the ball , locks in and pushes.

Even without his best stuff, he did just that over 6.2 brave innings and reinforced after the Toronto Blue Jays lost the front end of a doubleheader largely to sloppy play on the field while also maintaining his rotation schedules during these critical final weeks kept intact .

That Manoah handed the ball 2-1 down after handing a go-ahead solo shot to Jonathan Aranda in the top of the seventh inning was beside the point. He had left his team more than capable of clinching an important win, which they did with a rally among the bottom seven marked by Whit Merrifield’s double double and George Springer’s double homer.

The end result, a 7-2 win in front of a charged Rogers Center crowd of 25,103, secured a twin-bill split and put the Blue Jays (80-62) a half game behind the Rays (79-62). Seattle Mariners (79-62) lead wildcard race.

“My job isn’t to feel good, my job is to just go out and compete,” Manoah said. “No matter what’s going on, just go out there and give this team a chance. I know they knew I had to go through it, so I knew they would come get me.”

Springer said: “This is heart. That’s pretty much who he is.”

A Tampa Bay sweep on Tuesday would have put their hosts in a difficult position as Drew Rasmussen will face Ross Stripling and Shane McClanahan on Wednesday as he is off the injured list and takes on Kevin Gausman on Thursday.

Offense was already hard to come by, as the Blue Jays had to scrape and scrape early in the 4-2 loss to get past a pair and barely got the game in the sixth game with Alejandro Kirk’s soft dribbler on first base at 1: 1 line to bring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. home.

But some well-played leverage by interim manager John Schneider when the game was on the brink in game seven resulted in exhalation swings for Merrifield, having his greatest moment since his deadline-day addition, and Springer, who made it 28 for the first time since 11.

“Big emotions, it’s a big moment in a big game,” said Merrifield, who is adjusting to life as a stand-in off the bench. “I used to play every day since I was little until I came here. That’s the role I have right now. I really don’t deserve much more than my role. I learn as the game progresses how to work, not overdo it, but when to crank it up somehow. I guess you get a sense of when you might be needed. I’m trying to get a good two-inning pad to go to the cage, get a few punches, run a little, get my legs going. It’s a new process for me and I’m working my way through it.”

Santiago Espinal, who scored for Cavan Biggio, started the rally with a four-pitch walk against left winger Colin Poche, and after a Matt Chapman strikeout, Danny Jansen came on for Raimel Tapia and worked another base of balls. Merrifield then filled in for Jackie Bradley Jr. and swept Poche’s first pitch down the left field line to erase a 2-1 lead.

The run of three lefties in four batters at the bottom of the Blue Jays lineup could have been a weak spot for the Rays. But with Jason Adam probably their only available leverage, Schneider found a point where he could secure a drawing advantage and saved his plays for the seventh after a flip hitter opportunity arose in the fifth.

“Set it up like that to give the guys a chance against (starter Yonny) Chirinos with the left-handers,” Schneider said. “Being patient and knowing that later in the game we have really good options on the bench the way their bullpen was set up, the guys picked up. Walk, walk, Whit with a huge double… everyone got up and did their thing and it was just really cool to see the whole team contributing.”

A couple of add-on runs in the eighth round extended the lead and allowed the Blue Jays to field Zach Pop in the ninth round after Jordan Romano took the eighth-round final with Yandy Diaz to a tie in a 5-2 competition had achieved.

It all started with Manoah waking up and “feeling awful” and initially thought he was in a nightmare until realizing, “I couldn’t breathe, the chest was tight, everything just didn’t feel good,” he said .

After discussing a visit to the ER, he reluctantly texted Jose Ministral at 2am – the coach’s phone is always on during such incidents – finally fell asleep again around 6:30am, leaving his alarm clock around two Hours later, the opener rang and offered to fight back but was eventually pushed back.

Instead, Julian Merryweather was scheduled to start as an opener for Mitch White, who delivered six solid innings

The Blue Jays weren’t sure if Manoah could put on the nightcap until he woke up again at 2:30 p.m., arrived at the field, took some IV fluid, and then got clearance to pitch. As he warmed up, “I was just worried about not throwing up.”

Don’t worry, he didn’t and worked his way through a speed drop to keep the Rays on two runs.

“The biggest thing is just attacking, just trying to throw as many shots as possible, let them come out and let that defense go some plays,” Manoah said of pitching without his best stuff. “They had a couple of guys on base in a couple of innings and had to lock it in and hit some big outs. As long as you give this offensive a chance and keep them there, they will pull through.

Had he missed the start, it would not only have affected the Blue Jays’ plans for the day, but also for the weeks to come. His place in the rotation also falls during the upcoming series against Baltimore this weekend, the Rays in St. Petersburg next week, the New York Yankees back at home and the Orioles at Camden Yards in the last series of the season if necessary.

Manoah’s will made all that mute.

“He has firmly established himself as one of the best pitchers in the league or the game,” said Schneider. “He ground today and everyone knows that. Just a great performance from him.”

Very even the guy that makes Manoah so unique.

Matt Buschmann, Bullpen Coach and Pitching Development Director for the Blue Jays, remarked: “A lot of what makes Alek so special isn’t even physically, it’s him, the mental ability to deal with failure, handle things at a high level and stuff like that to be competitive as he is. … He’s obviously very comfortable in the limelight. I don’t know how you teach this. I would like to teach that. But it is the result of his upbringing, the result of all aspects of his life leading up to becoming a professional baseball player. If we could recreate that, that would be great. Because of that, he is a special person.”

On a day when his team needed it, Manoah showed why again in a high-stakes series as the finish line neared, and the Blue Jays found a way to make it a success.