ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — That Alek Manoah showed up in a moment of need for the Toronto Blue Jays comes as no surprise. All he’s done since debuting on May 27, 2021 is picking up his racquet in one bold outing after another, unperturbed by the circumstances around him. When asked if too much is expected of a young pitcher, John Schneider pointed out that the 24-year-old has already proven he’s ready for big games.
“We have the right man on the hill,” added the interim manager.
Hours after that pregame comment, Manoah took the mound at the low-end outlet mall that doubles as a ballpark, Tropicana Field, and demonstrated why, throwing zero after zero after zero. But as good as he was, the ace right-hander could only prevent runs but not score, so the fate of his jewel was in the balance well into Saturday night.
That’s where Whit Merrifield, the trade date additive who struggled on arrival but has been warming up lately, stepped in and delivered a three-run shot in the seventh inning ahead of Brooks Raley to end the day in a 3-1 win of the Blue Jays ended three-game losing streak.
“That was huge, I got a little dizzy from screaming so much,” Manoah said of Merrifield’s crucial swing. “It’s a big hit right there and it’s caught on for us over the past few days. That spurred everyone on to finish this one.”
Manoah finished the game with seven innings of shutout and allowed just four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts on a season-high 113 pitches as the Blue Jays (85-67) clinched a game against the Rays (84-68) for the The wildcard race took the lead. They’re still 1.5 games ahead of third-placed Seattle Mariners (83-68), who defeated Kansas City 6-5, while an 11-10 loss to Houston by the Baltimore Orioles (79-72) shortened Toronto’s magic number clinch a playoff berth through six.
“Bulldog, man,” Merrifield said of Manoah. “Get the ball when the team needs it, it’s a big game for us after losing Philly, the first two fell here, we know this place has given us problems this year – it’s a big game for us. … So it was nice to do enough to win.”
As always with trop, there was late drama in front of a crowd of 22,169 when Tim Mayza, who took eighth place, allowed back-to-back singles after recording the first two outs, prompting Schneider to bring in Jordan Romano.
The closer, missed saves in his previous two appearances handed Harold Ramirez a high chopper that led to an infield single that brought home a run when Bo Bichette’s throw first sailed high but recovered to turn to Manuel Margot hit.
Romano wrapped things up with a clean ninth place finish for his 35th save.
Merrifield’s home run was his third in a row, and his emergence from an extended cold spell that coincided with his arrival in the sporadic season comes at an opportune time. Santiago Espinal’s slanting strain, coupled with Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s continued absence, has left a void and path to consistent bats.
He has come on with goals in five of his last seven games and collected two more on Saturday.
“He gets hot at the right time and brings a lot of other variables into your lineup with speed and versatility and things like that,” Schneider said. “I know it wasn’t great for him when he started here and wasn’t consistent, but he’ll be in there and I definitely love how he’s swinging it now.”
The homer followed Teoscar Hernandez’s one-out double that ended the night for Drew Rasmussen, who was almost as suffocating as Manoah until the sixth time. Pinch hitter Danny Jansen then worked off a walk from Raley before Merrifield dropped the hammer on a first pitch slider.
“Jano had a great shot right in front of me, came off the bench and worked the racquet really well to get on foot,” Merrifield said. “So I was lucky enough to be on deck to see all of his pitches from the side and went in and tried to pick up the ball early, saw something to put the run on and enough of that to to get him out.”
Manoah, who had been charging his teammates all game, came back for the seventh, allowing Miles Mastobuoni a one-out single and then grounding Francisco Mejia into second before taking a soft chopper from Ji-Man Choi caused Bichette to charge for second to collect and forward the final.
As he did so, Manoah had his arms in the air and yelled out his shortstop, just as he had done to several others throughout the game.
“I don’t know if they needed it, but from my point of view we were down 2-0 (Friday) at one point and it felt like we were down 5-0,” said Manoah. “It’s a tough place to play and a good ball club over there so I just wanted to make sure I came in with a lot of energy and keep the lads going. They keep me going, big games, big sluggers – that’s what drives me. Being able to give them some fire back was amazing.”
Manoah’s season-high in pitches so far was 107, over 5.2 innings of a 4-2 loss to Baltimore on Aug. 16. Since then, he’s thrown seven consecutive quality starts, at least seven of which have gone in fours, and has been pushed in that game after one extra rest day comes.
“I feel great,” Manoah said. “So to all the haters who say I’m slowing down, good luck.”
Like everyone facing him this season, they will need it.
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