Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah battles back yet again in win over Astros

HOUSTON — We’ve seen these outings from Alek Manoah before. A little scattershot out of the gates. A little all over the place early. Muttering to himself; pounding the glove; kicking at his landing spot on the mound.

It was just one of those days Saturday, as Manoah coughed up a two-spot to the Houston Astros in the first, letting Michael Brantley reach off a mis-located heater after getting ahead, 0-2. And then Alex Bregman took him deep to left on another 0-2 pitch, this time a sinker that didn’t run quite far enough in on the third baseman’s hands.

But then we saw that other thing we’ve seen from the young Toronto Blue Jays right-hander so many times before — a rally. A different guy in the second. A more aggressive version of himself, pounding the zone with fastballs that were suddenly coming out at 95-96 mph after sitting around 93-94 an inning prior. A 27-pitch first inning all but washed away with a 12-pitch second and 11-pitch third. A blink of the eye and it’s the sixth, and Manoah’s still up there, chucking high cheese and sweeping sliders that glide from strike to ball as bats whizz by.

That’s how it went Saturday, as Manoah allowed only those two first-inning runs over his six frames, retiring 16 of the final 20 batters he faced in a 3-2 Blue Jays win. Manoah struck out five and didn’t walk any, earning seven swinging strikes with his four-seamer and three more with his slider.

Typically a guy who leans heavily on his two-seamer, the adjustment Manoah appeared to make after the Bregman homer was to throw more of the four-seam variety, which he used for over half of his 95 pitches. And they got firmer as the outing went on, reaching 96 mph several times in the third and fourth innings. Manoah’s final two pitches of the day — a pair of four-seamers to Nike Goodrum — came out at 95.1 and 95.6 mph.

“The one thing about that kid is he throws harder when you're about to take him out,” said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo. “It’s fun to watch. It was almost weird when he gave up the two runs. Like, ‘OK, what just happened?’ But that's a good lineup and he’s going to give up runs every once in a while. But he's been so good and he's one of the main reasons we won.”

Manoah completed six innings for the third time in three outings this season, and the 14th in 23 starts since making his MLB debut last May. He’s now done it on a day when he’s thrown nearly 30 pitches in the first inning, a day when he walked six, and a day when he walked three with two hit batters.

Manoah’s stuff speaks for itself. But his ability to arrest early damage and still give him team a long, quality outing is part of what separates him from other starters his age. He doesn’t implode when things go awry; he doesn’t let things spiral. He finds ways to keep going.

“The biggest thing was just being able to go out there and control the game, control the pace, and control as much as I can,” Manoah said. “When you're facing a lineup like that, you’ve got to give and take where you can. So, just being able to sit there and control the game after that [first inning] was the biggest thing.”

Meanwhile, offence came quickly as George Springer led off the game — his first against the Astros since joining the Blue Jays ahead of the 2021 season — with a long, opposite field home run. That’s how you’d dream of a plate appearance like that going, right? But Springer’s the kind of guy to bring dreams like those to life.

“Yeah, it's weird. It's a pretty special moment for me individually. It's cool. I really wasn't trying to do it. But I'll take it,” he said. “I just want to hit the ball hard. I know who's up behind me. I know what my job is. And to hit something hard, hopefully start something. And I was able to do so.”

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. plated another in the sixth with the shortest sacrifice fly you’ll ever see, as Astros second baseman Nico Goodrum made a play while colliding with his shortstop, Jeremy Pena, which let Bo Bichette scamper home from third. And Santiago Espinal provided the winning run, lifting a 364-foot solo shot into the left-field Crawford Boxes for his second homer in as many games.

We all know about Espinal’s added mass and the extra power it’s produced, but this wasn’t a case of those dividends paying out. This was Espinal working a diligent, competitive approach out of the eight hole, fouling off three tough fastballs before he got a low slider he could loft up into those left-field seats.

“It was fastball and slider. I was just mainly focusing on trying to attack the fastball,” Espinal said. “And with two strikes, I was trying to protect and trying to get a good pitch to hit. I saw the slider right away and got a good swing on it. It was a good feeling, man.”

Leave the rest to a bullpen that entered the day with the American League’s lowest batting average against and second-lowest WHIP, which tossed three scoreless, one-hit innings behind Manoah. And it wasn’t the usual suspects, with Jordan Romano and Tim Mayza both unavailable, which left the late-game leverage spots to Yimi Garcia and Adam Cimber.

Traditionally, you might expect Cimber to have set up ahead of Garcia, who saved 15 games for the Miami Marlins last season. But with the heart of Houston’s order due up in the eighth, Montoyo managed to with a leverage arm, deploying Garcia against Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, and Yuli Gurriel in the eighth, before letting Cimber notch his third career save in the ninth against the bottom of the Astros lineup.

Such is the luxury the Blue Jays have in their bullpen right now, with multiple relievers starting the season healthy and in top form: Romano’s results are undeniable; Garcia is yet to allow a run in seven appearances; Cimber’s carrying a 2.25 ERA over eight innings; Mayza, Trevor Richards, and David Phelps have all pitched at least five innings with ERA’s below 1.60.

Trent Thornton has provided length — and did so in leverage on Friday — pitching to a 1.13 ERA over eight innings. And while Julian Merryweather’s had his hiccups, he’s still throwing in the upper 90’s with a changeup that comes in 15 mph slower, and has the benefit of some breathing room to sort things out while the rest of the bullpen carries the load.

There’s hardly a wrong late-game avenue for Montoyo to take these days with the group pitching so well collectively. Of course, anyone who’s witnessed a baseball season before knows things are unlikely to stay this good for long. It’s a bullpen. It’s volatile by nature. But as the Blue Jays steadfastly refuse to play anything but close games early in the season — nine of Toronto’s 10 wins have been by three runs or fewer —the club will certainly take it as long as it lasts.

“They seem to feed off one another. They get big outs in big spots. I have all the faith in those guys in the world,” Springer said. “That's why they're on our team and that's why they're in the spots that they're in. It’s awesome to watch them work. And to hand the ball off to whoever it is down there. It's huge.”