TORONTO – Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah had just given up a solo home run to Willi Castro when his night took a turn for the worse. Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop hit a grounder that went off Manoah’s pitching elbow, dropping the burly Toronto ace to his knees.
The ball bounced to shortstop Santiago Espinal, who got the out at first but Manoah missed the entire play. Athletics head coach Jose Julian Ministral immediately came out of the Blue Jays dugout to check on Manoah and eventually made the call to remove him from the game.
“I showed (Ministral) where he had taken me and he said, ‘does it hurt?’ I mean, I think it was more than the initial shock,” Manoah said, recounting the conversation with the coach. “And then I said, ‘Are we out?’ ‘Yes’.
“‘OK, let me throw a couple more,’ and he said, ‘Are you crazy?'”
Victor Reyes had an RBI double and Harold Castro drove in two runs with a single as the Tigers won 4-2 in Toronto on Friday.
Manoah (11-5) gave up seven hits and one walk for four runs, striking out four in 5 1/3 innings before being pulled with a bruised right elbow.
Manoah had x-rays taken after leaving the game which came back negative.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think I needed the X-ray, but, you know, they wanted it as a precaution,” said Manoah, who didn’t have ice on his elbow during postgame interviews and even had a sting. few times
“Everything was negative, everything was clean, so we’re going to get back on the horse and come back in five days.”
Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said Manoah was nearing the end of his night anyway, as he had 87 pitches and was struggling with his command.
“He’s competitive as hell and he wanted to stay, but it was a pretty easy decision to take him out just to be safe,” said Schneider, who noted that reliever Tim Mayza was already warming up in the Toronto bullpen when Manoah was wounded.
Mayza, David Phelps, Anthony Banda and Max Castillo held the Tigers scoreless the rest of the game.
Matt Chapman’s solo home run and Raimel Tapia’s RBI single were all the offense Toronto (55-45) could muster.
Bryan Garcia allowed two runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Will Vest (3-2), Jason Foley, Joe Jimenez, Michael Fulmer and Gregory Soto pitched in relief for the Tigers (41-60).
Chapman brought the 28,046 Rogers Center fans to their feet in the second inning, hitting his 19th home run of the season deep into the ballpark to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.
Reyes tied it in the next inning, with his hit bouncing past a sliding Teoscar Hernandez into right field for a double. That scored Riley Greene to make it 1-1.
Tapia’s single gave Toronto its second lead of the game in the fourth. His shot to left gave Gurriel time to slide home to make it 2-1.
Detroit answered right back in the fifth, setting up a rally with two outs. Greene walked, Reyes singled, and then Javier Baez was hit by a pitch from Manoah to load the bases. Harold Castro’s single brought home Greene and Reyes for a 3-2 Tigers lead.
Willi Castro relieved that lead in the sixth, hitting his fourth home run of the season into the Tigers dugout in right field.
SPRINGER RESTS — Blue Jays outfielder George Springer was in visible discomfort after making big pitches from right field in the eighth inning of Toronto’s 5-3 win over Detroit on Thursday. He was given Friday off, but Schneider said Springer was available on the bench and needed to rest anyway.
BICHETTE SORE – Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette was also out of the lineup Friday with a sore left shoulder. Schneider said he was hurt after colliding with Gurriel while tracking a fly ball in shallow left field the night before. Bichette entered the game in the ninth inning, pinch hitting for Tapia.
Up next: Ross Stripling (5-3) will start Saturday afternoon as Toronto continues its series against the Tigers. Former Blue Jays pitcher Drew Hutchison (1-4) will take the mound for Detroit.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 29, 2022.