TORONTO — Time and again, no matter what circumstance throws his way, Alek Manoah finds ways to meet the moment. Be it shutting down a division rival after one of their player beaks off like he did in his last time out, or taking the mound 17 hours after being drained by a stomach bug, the way he did Tuesday night, the big man takes the ball, locks in and shoves.
Even without his best stuff he did precisely that over 6.2 gutsy innings, stepping up after the Toronto Blue Jays lost the front end of a doubleheader largely due to some sloppy play in the field, while also keeping their rotation plans in these critical final weeks intact.
That Manoah handed the ball over down 2-1 after surrendering a go-ahead solo shot to Jonathan Aranda in the top of the seventh inning was beside the point. He’d more than left his team in position to pull out an important win, which they did with a bottom seven rally keyed by Whit Merrifield’s pinch-hit two-run double and George Springer’s two-run homer.
The end result, a 7-2 victory before a charged up Rogers Centre crowd of 25,103, secured a twin-bill split and put the Blue Jays (80-62) back up a half-game on the Rays (79-62) and Seattle Mariners (79-62) atop the wild-card race.
“My job is not to feel good, my job is to just go out there and compete,” said Manoah. “No matter what’s going on, just kind of go out there and give this team a chance. I know they knew I was going through it, so I knew they’d pick me up.”
Said Springer: “That’s heart. That’s pretty much who he is.”
A Tampa Bay sweep Tuesday would have left their hosts in a tough spot, with Drew Rasmussen set to start Wednesday against Ross Stripling and Shane McClanahan due to come off the injured list and start Thursday against Kevin Gausman.
Offence was already hard to come by as the Blue Jays had to scratch and claw to push across a pair in the opening 4-2 loss and had barely tied the game 1-1 in the sixth on Alejandro Kirk’s soft dribbler up the first-base line to bring home Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
But some well-played leverage machinations by interim manager John Schneider when the game hung in the balance in the seventh led to exhale swings for Merrifield, with his biggest moment since his deadline addition, and Springer, who went deep for the first time since Aug. 28.
“Big emotion, it’s a big moment in a big game” said Merrifield, who is adapting to life as a utility player off the bench. “I’ve always played every day from the time I was little ’til I got here. This is the role that I have right now. I really haven’t earned much more of a role than what my role has been. I’m learning how to work throughout the course of the game, not to overdo it, but when to sort of rev it up. You get a feel for it, I guess, for when you might be needed. I try to get myself a good two-inning cushion to go over to the cage, get some swings, run a little bit, get my legs going. It’s a new process for me and I’m working through it.”
Santiago Espinal, hitting for Cavan Biggio, started the rally with a four-pitch walk against lefty Colin Poche and after a Matt Chapman strikeout, Danny Jansen came in for Raimel Tapia and worked another base on balls. Merrifield then stepped in for Jackie Bradley Jr., and ripped 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 vulnerability for the Rays to expose. But with Jason Adam likely to be their only leverage righty available, Schneider found a spot where he could lock in platoon advantage, saving his moves for the seventh after an opportunity to flip hitters first came up in the fifth.
“Set it up that way to give guys a chance against (starter Yonny) Chirinos with the lefties,” said Schneider. “Being patient there, knowing that we have really good options in the bench later in the game with how their bullpen was set up, guys stepped up. Walk, walk, Whit with a huge double … everyone stepped up and did their thing and it was just really cool to see the entire team contribute.”
A couple of add-on runs in the eighth extended the lead and allowed the Blue Jays to use Zach Pop in the ninth after Jordan Romano recorded the final out of the eighth with Yandy Diaz up as the tying run in a 5-2 contest.
Everything started with Manoah, who woke up “feeling terrible,” initially thinking he was in a nightmare until realizing that “I couldn’t breathe, chest was tight, everything just didn’t feel too well,” he said.
After debating an ER visit, he reluctantly texted Jose Ministral at 2 a.m. — the trainer’s phone is always on for just such occurrences — finally fell back asleep at about 6:30 a.m., had his alarm go off about two hours later, offered to pitch the opener but eventually was pushed back.
The call was made to start Julian Merryweather instead as an opener to Mitch White, who delivered six solid innings
The Blue Jays weren’t certain Manoah could pitch the nightcap until he woke back up at 2:30 p.m., arrived at the field, took some IV fluid and then received clearance to pitch. As he warmed up, “I just worried about not throwing up.”
No worries there, he didn’t, working through a dip in velocity to hold the Rays to two runs.
“The biggest thing is just attack, just trying to throw as many strikes as possible, let them get themselves out and let that defence make some plays,” Manoah said of pitching without his best stuff. “They had a couple of guys on base in a few innings and had to lock it in and get some big outs. As long as you give that offence a chance and keep it close there, they’re going to come through.”
Had he missed the start, it would have been detrimental not only to the Blue Jays’ plans for the day, but also for the coming weeks. His spot in the rotation also falls during 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 final series of the season, if needed.
Manoah’s will made all that mute.
“He’s firmly cemented himself as one of the best pitchers in the league or the game,” said Schneider. “He was grinding today and everyone knows that. Just a great effort by him.”
Very much so, the type that makes Manoah so unique.
Matt Buschmann, the Blue Jays’ bullpen coach and pitching development director, noted how “a lot of what makes Alek special is not even physical, it’s him, the mental capacity to handle failure, handle things at a high level and be competitive as he is. … He’s obviously very comfortable in the spotlight. I don’t know how you teach that. I would love to teach that. But it’s the outcome of his upbringing, the outcome of every aspect of his life up until and becoming a professional baseball player. If we could recreate that, it would be great. He’s a special person for that reason.”
On a day his team needed it, in a high-stakes series with the finish line closing in, Manoah once again showed why, and the Blue Jays found a way to make it count.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
