TORONTO — The regularity with which Alek Manoah delivers quality starts makes it almost too easy to take what he’s doing for granted. Really, it’s not this easy, especially for a sophomore pitcher driving up a career-high innings haul every five days, yet there’s the Toronto Blue Jays‘ right-hander never missing a turn, battling his ass off, carrying his team along the way.
Key to his remarkable season is that, even on the rare occasions when he isn’t straight shoving, he still finds a way to be really good, just as he was on Sunday while grinding out six gutsy innings of one-run ball in an eventual 5-4 Toronto Blue Jays loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
Only a rare Jordan Romano blip in the ninth — he allowed the first four batters to reach, the last being an Adley Rutschman two-run single, and later a Jesus Aguilar RBI single in his fifth blown save of the season — prevented Manoah’s effort from securing a three-game sweep.
The Blue Jays nearly rallied back in the bottom half, as George Springer missed a game-tying homer by inches and was forced to settle for an RBI double instead that made it a one-run game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a walk, but Felix Bautista, who hit triple digits with his fastball eight times during the outing, induced a sharp Bo Bichette groundout to end it.
“Entire series was awesome,” said interim manager John Schneider. “We played great. I think it speaks volumes of what we did in the ninth inning against a really good reliever. And it just shows the mentality of this team.”
At 83-64, and after just their fifth loss this month, the Blue Jays’ recent surge ensures that they’ll head into the next week a half-game up on the Tampa Bay Rays (82-64) and two ahead of the Seattle Mariners (80-65) for the top wild-card spot. They’re also six games clear of the fourth-placed Orioles (76-69).
The Blue Jays appeared to be set for better after Guerrero Jr.’s solo shot in the seventh opened a 3-1 lead before a Rogers Centre crowd of 41,301, but instead settled for a 5-3 finish to a gruelling eight-games-in-seven-days homestand that included Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Rays.
An off-day on Monday comes at a good time for a bullpen that’s started three games in the absence of a fifth starter over the past couple of weeks, for Springer, who suffered an elbow contusion after getting hit by Dean Kremer in the third inning, and for catcher Alejandro Kirk, who’s been out with hip soreness and is expected to be ready Tuesday at the Philadelphia Phillies.
“If there wasn’t an off day to try to make sure he’s really, really good, Kirky would have been in there (Sunday),” said Schneider. “I love the way we’re playing, I love the way the guys are competing, we’re playing really good baseball right now. You enjoy the off day and you pick up a new series on Tuesday.”
Perhaps the toll of the busy stretch showed as Adam Cimber allowed an Aguilar solo shot in the eighth before Romano, absent his usual command and plus slider, got burned for a three-spot in his first blown save since Aug. 7 at Minnesota. He got 12 swings, six each on his fastball and slider, and not a single whiff, which was unusual and made the Blue Jays wonder if the Orioles plan was to sit on his slider.
“The first pitch was a slider and it was a base hit, so that could be an indicator right there,” said Danny Jansen, who extended his recent run at the plate with a go-ahead homer in the fourth and two walks. “It’s easy to go hindsight now, but slider is obviously one of his best pitches. It’s that and the heater. If we’re going to lose it with the slider, then there are times we’re going to lose it with the slider.”
Manoah, who returned from a stomach bug to beat the Rays in his last time out, allowed only four hits but also walked a season-high-tying four, which left him time and again dodging traffic in the early innings to avoid significant damage.
Some strong defence, first and foremost Teoscar Hernandez’s leaping catch against the right-field wall to rob Anthony Santander in the first, certainly helped. But he also pitched himself out of trouble in two key spots, inducing a Santander pop up and striking out Gunnar Henderson with two on and one out in the second, and popping up Robinson Chirinos and getting Cedric Mullins to fly out after Jorge Mateo’s RBI double left runners at second and third in the fourth.
“Don’t let these guys score, that was the biggest thing,” Manoah said of his thought process in those spots. “Just every pitch matters. Focus on every pitch, breathe and make sure you execute every pitch. I was able to get some big outs.”
Those outs helped leverage what little the Blue Jays managed off Kremer. A rally in the third was snuffed out after Bichette’s RBI single when Matt Chapman hit into the 10th triple play in franchise history, while Jansen’s solo shot in the fourth restored a 2-1 advantage.
Manoah’s performance has been a constant throughout a season of wild swings for the Blue Jays, with Sunday’s outing marking hi 23rd quality start of the year. While by no means a perfect stat, that 23 of his 29 outings hit that benchmark is indicative of the 24-year-old’s steadiness.
Consider that across all those starts, he hasn’t allowed more than four earned runs, and that’s only happened four times. Just six times has he gone less than six innings, never throwing fewer than five frames, and at 183.2 innings and counting, he’s currently second in the American League, pushing his career best total further and further.
“The biggest thing down this stretch is to stay keen on what I’ve been doing that’s made me so good right now,” said Manoah. “We have a really good routine in place. Shortening a long toss day here and there, little things like that. But all in all, just keeping the foundation that I have and continue to attack that.”
As the Blue Jays ran out three bullpen games to cover the vacant fifth spot in the rotation over the past couple of weeks, it’s his dependability that’s helped underpin the success of those outings.
In Kirk’s absence, Manoah threw to Jansen for the first time all season and their pairing went off without a hitch. Jansen and Manoah often discuss approaches to pitching and game-plans, so working together was far from new and building some on-field familiarity is helpful should Kirk ever end up missing significant time.
Jansen, fighting through a stop-and-start season, is tearing things up at the plate of late, batting .377/.468/.679 with four homers, nine RBIs and eight walks over his last 18 games dating back to Aug. 25, a nice complement to his strong game-handling and blocking skills.
“Every time I felt like I was doing really well I’d get hurt and all that, but knock on wood, we’re past that stuff so it’s just continuing to enhance my approach,” Jansen said of his run at the plate. “I feel like that’s enhanced for me what I’m going up there trying to do and looking for. Continue to learn. That’s what I’m trying to do, but also trying to just pass the baton on to the next guy and have a good at-bat.”
Manoah is doing the same thing on the mound, delivering a quality start and saving the bullpen for the next man up in the rotation. No matter if a bug fells him the night before he’s due to start or he struggles syncing up his legs and his arms, he finds a way.
“That’s baseball,” he said. “You’re going to get a lot of starts in the year and there are going to be some where you’re in cruise control and everything’s firing on all cylinders. And there are going to be some where you’re not firing on all cylinders and you’ve got to compete. Today was one of those and I feel like I did a good job of just keeping the team in the game.”
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
