Manoah dominates, closes in on Blue Jays history

TORONTO -- Alek Manoah yelled with gusto into his glove as he walked off the mound in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game, with the Blue Jays hanging onto a tenuous lead and a Red Sox runner stranded at third base.

Manoah’s latest dominant outing, and his fourth win in as many starts this season, gave the Blue Jays a crucial series victory over Boston, but it wasn’t without some drama. The tight score and lack of offense kept things interesting from first pitch until Jordan Romano froze Jackie Bradley Jr. with a fastball at the knees, sealing Toronto’s 1-0 win at Rogers Centre.

Just as he’s done time and time again, Manoah pitched himself out of trouble, succeeding through a combination of timely strikeouts and a solid defense behind him.

“My mentality is that it doesn’t matter what happened in the past,” said Manoah, who pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out seven. “They still gotta come and try to beat me now. So, I just continue to compete and continue to make good pitches.”

Toronto’s big right-handed starter had just about every pitch in his arsenal working for him. Manoah threw his fastball up in the zone for most of the game, generating plenty of swings and misses. That fastball command paired perfectly with his reliable slider, and his endurance allowed manager Charlie Montoyo to rest most of his bullpen heading into this weekend’s series against the Astros.

“I feel so good when he’s on the mound. That was his game. There was nobody warming up,” said Montoyo after the game. “We needed something like that. … That was a big start by Manoah, but we’re kind of getting used to that.”

The Blue Jays have won each of Manoah’s last 12 starts -- a mark that is tied for second in club history with J.A. Happ and Jimmy Key. The 24-year-old has also earned wins in eight straight starts, tied for second in Toronto history with none other than seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens. Roy Halladay holds both club records: The Blue Jays won 14 of his starts in a row in 2003, and he earned wins in 11 straight starts during that span.

“He doesn’t surprise me anymore. That’s what he’s been doing. That’s who he is,” said Montoyo. “We knew, today, the runs were going to be tough to find, because we’re facing good pitching. And he did it again.”

Manoah's outing was precisely what the Blue Jays needed in a close game with offense scarce.

The only RBI of the game came at the hands of Alejandro Kirk, who hadn’t driven in a run since the Blue Jays’ Opening Day 10-8 win over the Rangers on April 8. Red Sox starter Garrett Whitlock and the Boston bullpen recorded five strikeouts and allowed only six hits; the Blue Jays left nine men on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. It didn’t help that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sat out Thursday’s contest with soreness after fouling a ball off his own foot the night before.

But the Blue Jays made do.

Manoah’s lights-out pitching did most of the work in preserving their razor-thin lead, but several clutch defensive plays helped the Blue Jays as well. In the sixth, right fielder Raimel Tapia tracked a Christian Vázquez fly ball to the fence, colliding with the wall to make an impressive catch for the first out. Bo Bichette followed that up in the seventh, crisply snagging a Christian Arroyo line drive to short. The liner had an expected batting average of .420, but Bichette's grab held Kiké Hernández at third. Gosuke Katoh then ended the inning -- and Manoah’s successful night -- by catching a popup in foul territory as he came up against the netting on the first-base side.

“Before [the game started], I said this was going to be a game with no room for error,” Montoyo said. “As long as we’re pitching fine and we’re catching the ball, we have a chance. That’s how baseball is. Offense is down in the whole league, so it seems like you’re going to see a lot of games like that.”

Manoah has yet to complete a full year of Major League ball -- he was first called up from Triple-A Buffalo on May 27 of last year. But if his disposition through a very young career is any indication, he was built for moments like this.

“I’m just going out there and doing my job. I’m not even looking at the scoreboard,” Manoah said. “Just trying to do everything I can to get the team a win and keep getting that offense in there, letting them go and get hot.”