Blue Jays Pre-Game Pittsburgh Pirates, May 30

Manoah comeback hits reset with sprained UCL

Manoah to the 15-day IL

Working hard to come back to the form that he flashed as a Top 3 Cy Young candidate in 2022, Blue Jays righthander Alek Manoah has suffered a huge setback, after an MRI on Thursday revealed a sprain of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) in his right elbow.

Manoah had faced six White Sox hitters in Chicago on Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, when an awkward delivery sounded the alarm for catcher Alejandro Kirk and manager John Schneider that something was amiss. The manager accompanied trainer Jose Ministral to the mound and Manoah came out without even another warmup pitch.

Schneider did not seem surprised regarding the short outing for his fifth starter, that Manoah admitted he had felt “cranky” and “pinchy” in his but his work in between starts was fine.

“He was a little cranky after the start in Detroit,” Schneider agreed, of his unfortunate 26-year-old hurler. “He got treatment in-between. He threw a side (bullpen) in Chicago and looked and felt good. You see his (velocity) kind of drop a little bit in the second (inning), then you see his reaction on that one pitch.

“I don’t want to say I wasn’t surprised, because I thought he was really good in his first inning too. It’s just unfortunate.”

Manoah did not look in pain, but Schneider and Ministral had seen enough.

“The fact that it was me and Jose were the ones saying let’s be smart,” the manager continued. Just because he (had been) getting treatment on it a little bit. Again, to his credit, just the fact of (Alek) going out there. Again, if a guy isn’t physically able to, we’re never going to put him out there, but the fact that he wanted to go out and pitch and felt good and was checked off physically, we just didn’t want to push it at that point.”

Manoah will remain in Toronto, receiving daily treatment from the Jays trainers, then will fly on Thursday next week to be examined by specialist, Dr. Keith Meisner in Dallas.

“He’s got strong faith and he’s been through a lot in the last year,” Schneider said. “I think he’s met everything head on in the last year and that’s kind of where he’s at right now. It sucks, but he’s dealing with it about as good as you can.”

The team’s next report on whether surgery is necessary and what the timeline is for Manoah’s return to health will come after his visit with Dr. Mesiner.

Fifth Starter Conundrum

Manoah’s next scheduled start was June 4 vs. the Orioles at Rogers Centre. There are several options open right now and Schneider discussed.

In the clubhouse on Friday, but not activated yet, was RH Bowden Francis who just completed three successful rehab assignments at AAA-Buffalo. He began the year as the fifth starter, but both Francis and his manager were more comfortable with him in long relief, in a role of multiple innings.

On Friday night, rookie Cuban RH Yariel Rodriguez made his third start for Buffalo, logging two innings and 43 pitches, allowing one run.

On Wednesday, in Chicago, after Manoah was removed, RH Trevor Richards entered and threw 3.1 awesome innings in relief.

Schneider said that all three men remain options to start, but will not commit until the start of next week. Whatever the decision, it’s clear it will be a combined effort by the bullpen.

“I think (Richards) going in and getting stretched out a little bit, that outing, was good,” Schneider said. “If we have to utilize him a little bit more like that, but we’d like a little bit of regularity going forward. As we sit here right now, a little bit of a committee.”

Roster Replacement RH Ryan Burr

On Thursday the Blue Jays acquired 30-year-old RH Ryan Burr from the Phillies for cash considerations. The 6-4, 220 lb. native of Colorado, was 2-1, 2.16 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 16.2 innings at AAA-Lehigh Valley this year. He has parts of four season, with 66 games in the majors for the White Sox, last in 2022.

“He fits in like a traditional bullpen arm,” manager John Schneider explained. “What we liked was the strikeouts, for one, and kind of just adjusting some of the pitch mix arsenal. Not a lot, because he’s getting good results right now.

“There’s a lot of upside in him, too, in terms of what he can offer out of the bullpen, with the fastball-slider combo. A guy we saw a couple of years ago and he’s dealt with some injuries and things like that. The timing of it and how he’s performing right now made sense.”

Offensive glass half full and half empty

The Blue Jays in sweeping the pathetic White Sox in Chicago, showed a glass half full, collecting 20 hits and 16 bases-on-balls in three games, showing patience at the plate and applying offensive pressure for all three contests.

However, the half-empty observation comes from the fact the Jays scored just 15 runs and left 29 men on base, grounding into two double plays. That’s scoring with fewer than 33-percent of the runners that reached base and stranding more than one man per inning.

“It’s just executing in situational hitting spots, whether it’s adding on a run, getting a big hit, it takes some time,” Schneider said as the Jays prepared for Game 56. “

“I think with where we are offensively, honestly, we’re making good strides in terms of messaging, information delivery and then execution. Then after that, taking some feedback and diving into how we got to where we got to.

The Jays extended the club record streak of no runs in first innings to 21 games.

“The situations that come up, especially in the first inning, are very well documented. Getting guys in, getting guys over and getting the big hit. So, I’m definitely a glass half full guy, to where we’ve been to where we are now. I like it., Now it’s just getting those extra hits, or driving in those extra runs, where you’re scoring in multiple innings.”