In midst of gruelling schedule, Blue Jays' Manoah delivers much-needed gem

TORONTO – At the midway point of 20 games in 20 days, within a wider stretch of 30 contests in 31 days, after an abbreviated spring training no less, the toll of an unforgiving schedule to open the 2022 season is catching up with the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Actually, I was thinking about that coming into the ballpark, what a grind baseball is, and people have no idea unless you go through it,” manager Charlie Montoyo said in his office during a quiet pre-game to help his players manage their workload. “So many guys have the tools and stuff but the mental grind of baseball, it's unbelievable. And playing so many games in a row, against good teams and against good pitching, that’s why not everybody can play in the big leagues for a long time. That's why not everybody can have success. It's a grind and today is one of those days, like, OK, it's too many games in a row, people are feeling it, you're playing on turf. There's a lot that goes on.”

That’s what made the seven dominant and low-stress innings delivered by Alek Manoah in Thursday afternoon’s 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox all the more timely. Not only did the right-hander get deep enough into the game that Montoyo could optimize his busy bullpen, he also did the heavy lifting for an offence that was without Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who fouled a ball off his foot Wednesday night and was sore enough that he sat for the first time this season.

All the ingredients for a low-energy day were there and Manoah provided just the right jolt.

“You've got to come in a little bit more hot,” he said. “It's an early day. Three night games in a row, guys might be a little bit tired. It's coming out there and just setting the pace and letting them know this game means everything.”

Guerrero could potentially give the Blue Jays another pick-me-up Friday, as X-rays on the all-star slugger came back negative and Montoyo adding that “he should be fine” when the Houston Astros check in. If needed Thursday, Guerrero was available to pinch hit.

Still, without any days off, it’s hard for bruises like the one on his foot, or the tightness Lourdes Gurriel Jr. experienced in his legs earlier in the week, or the other wear and tear up and down the roster to get better, or for players to get a break from the mental rigours of competing in daily leverage.

There’s always another game the next day and the only thing to do is suck it up and get after it.

“It’s hard, there's no doubt about it,” Gurriel Jr., who scored the game’s only run, said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “I prepare myself really well in the off-season for runs like that, 20 games in a row. It’s hard but I’m OK with that.”

He and the rest of the Blue Jays were also OK with the way Manoah, as he always does, got after the Red Sox before a Rogers Centre crowd of 23,144, keeping a game with no margin under his thumb.

Feeding them a steady diet of four-seam fastballs sitting at 94.2 m.p.h. and topping out at 96.5, he allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out seven.

In the rare instance when he hit a speed bump, Manoah pivotally stranded a leadoff double from Kike Hernandez in the seventh.

Jackie Bradley Jr. advanced him to third with a weak comebacker but Manoah rallied to get Christian Arroyo on a liner right at shortstop Bo Bichette before Gosuke Katoh made a nice catch on Bobby Dalbec’s foul pop up by the first-base stands.

"I just really wanted that moment,” said Manoah. “I knew it was a one-run ballgame at that time and that was a big run. I just had to lock it in and make some pitches. Luckily Bo was exactly where we needed him to be. He got that out and Katoh was able to make a great play over at first.”

That ensured that the lead provided by Alejandro Kirk’s RBI single off Garrett Whitlock in the third inning – cashing in Gurriel Jr., who reached on an Arroyo error – was handed over to the bullpen.

Adam Cimber, pitching for the ninth time in 20 games, delivered a clean eighth before Jordan Romano, who took a comebacker off the leg Tuesday but still came out for in his 11th outing, locked things down in the ninth.

“We needed something like that,” Montoyo said of Manoah’s outing. “If you can get people like Yimi Garcia and all those guys an extra day, that's always going to help, just like it worked for Cimber. He was lights out in the eighth inning which was big, because there was no room for error. That was a big start by Manoah but we're kind of getting used to that.”