Even without his best stuff, he pitched just over 6.2 valiant innings, stepping up after the Toronto Blue Jays lost the front end of a doubleheader mostly due to some sloppy fielding, while also keeping their rotation plans intact in those crucial last weeks. . That Manoah was down 2-1 after giving up a solo shot to Jonathan Aranda in the top of the seventh inning was beside the point. He had left more than his team was able to pull off an important victory, which he accomplished with a rally in the bottom of the seventh that was capped by Whit Merrifield’s two-run double and George Springer’s two-run homer. The final result, a 7-2 victory before a crowd of 25,103 at Rogers Center, clinched a doubleheader and put the Blue Jays (80-62) a half game back on the Rays (79-62). the wildcard match. A Tuesday sweep of Tampa Bay would leave the hosts in a tough spot, with Drew Rasmussen starting Wednesday with Ross Stripling and Shane McClanahan coming off the injured list and starting Thursday with Kevin Gausman. The offense was already struggling, as the Blue Jays had to scratch and force a pair in a 4-2 opener and just tied it 1-1 in the sixth on Alejandro Kirk’s soft dribbler at first base. line to bring home Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But some nice leverage machinations by interim manager John Snyder when the game was tied in the seventh led to leadoff swings for Merrifield, with his biggest moment since being added at the deadline, and Springer, who went deep to first time since August. 28. Santiago Espinal, hitting for Cavan Biggio, started the rally with a four-pitch walk against lefty Colin Poche, and after a hit by Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen came in for Raimel Tapia and made another base on balls. Merrifield then stepped in for Jackie Bradley Jr. and smashed Poche’s first pitch down the left field line to erase a 2-1 lead. The streak of three lefties in four batters in the bottom of the Blue Jays lineup could have been a vulnerability for the Rays, but with Jason Adam likely to be their only lever, Schneider found a spot where he could secure the advantage of the platoon. A couple of extra 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 off Yandy Diaz as the tying run in a 5-2 game. It all started with Manoah, who informed manager Jose Ministral at 2am that he wasn’t feeling well and led to his dismissal from the first game, starting Julian Merryweather as opener to Mitch White, who delivered a steady six. period. The Blue Jays weren’t sure Manoah could handle a night of drinking, which would be detrimental not only to their plans for the day, but for weeks to come. His rotation spot also falls during the upcoming series against the Baltimore Orioles this weekend, the Rays in St. Petersburg next week, the New York Yankees back at home and the Orioles in Baltimore in the final series of the season, if needed . But Manoah’s will made this worry mute. “A lot of what makes Alec special isn’t even physical,” said Matt Busman, the Blue Jays’ pitching coach and director of development. “It’s him, the mental ability to handle failure, handle things at a high level and be competitive like he is. … It takes a special person to come in and just not fear the big league spring training and do what he does in ’21. They are obviously very comfortable in the spotlight. I don’t know how you teach it. I would love to teach it. But it is the result of his upbringing, the result of every aspect of his life until he became a professional baseball player. If we could recreate that, that would be great. He is a special person for that reason.”
