Blue Jays keep battling: 'Everybody's ready'

TORONTO -- It started how we all expected, with a catcher sliding headfirst into first base.

On a team loaded with All-Stars, it was Reese McGuire, who began the season buried on the catching depth chart and without a 40-man roster spot, kick-starting the rally that the Blue Jays desperately needed over the White Sox. The 2-1 win on Monday night wasn’t pretty, but nothing about the past week has been.

After Breyvic Valera pinch-ran for McGuire at first, Valera advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout. There were no late heroics or towering home runs, just another wild pitch from Craig Kimbrel that allowed Valera to score, crashing into Kimbrel at home plate as the throw came in from the backstop. It was the exact type of sloppy, frustrating play that the Blue Jays have spent so many games on the other end of recently.

“Everybody’s ready,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Vladdy did it the other day. That’s how hard they want to win. That’s the club that we have in there. They’ll give you all they’ve got. Vladdy did it the other day and Reese did it today. That’s how we play. That’s why I’m so proud of these guys and that’s why we’re never out. We play hard every day.”

The eighth-inning scramble gave starter Alek Manoah what Robbie Ray and Steven Matz deserved in the weekend series against the Tigers: a win. Manoah is the wild card of this Blue Jays rotation, and he is exactly who Toronto needs to take over games if it wants to make a run at, well, the Wild Card. Having Ray, Hyun Jin Ryu and José Berríos at the top of the rotation is a true strength, but the hard-throwing, chest-pounding rookie can be a difference maker well ahead of schedule.

Manoah gave the Blue Jays six innings of one-run ball in his first outing back from the bereavement list after his grandfather died. After the game, he discussed the importance of spending time with his family and supporting his mother before returning to Toronto to do what his grandfather loved to watch.

“I continued to battle, man,” Manoah said. “I continued to make pitches, give the team a chance and get that offense out there. I knew they’d break it open eventually. I just love the competitiveness and going out there and attacking.”

The outing was also a bounce back from a rare dud in his last start, but Manoah has shown that ability early in his MLB career. He now owns a 3.18 ERA and is being trusted to consistently work deep into games, even when he doesn’t have his best stuff. With just a fleeting taste of the Minor Leagues to his name, what’s impressed Toronto most is Manoah's ability to roll with the punches on the biggest stage.

“This guy doesn’t crumble,” Montoyo said. “He loses command, but then he comes back and gets people out. I love this guy. I know you all see it too. He gets people out, comes to the bench and he’s rooting for his teammates. It doesn’t get any better than that. I love that guy.”

The Blue Jays (65-58) still sit 4 1/2 games back of the Red Sox (71-55) for the second AL Wild Card spot, and they have the A’s (70-55) and Mariners (67-58) to leapfrog to get there. Monday’s game did nothing to solve Toronto's offensive issues, which are still alive and well, but Manoah continued a trend of exceptional starting pitching from the Blue Jays’ rotation.

Even the bullpen held up its end of things, with Adam Cimber, Tim Mayza and Jordan Romano pitching three scoreless innings. On a perfect night, that’s what Toronto wants following a quality start. A balanced offense and a rock-solid bullpen are the long-term goals here, but as the Blue Jays figure things out, the next steps are simple.

“We’ve got to win,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through a translator. “We’ve got to come here every day, game by game, do our thing and keep working hard, keep grinding, go out there and win every game we can.”

Eventually, it will need to be Guerrero, Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernández or George Springer leading big, bold 11-2 wins. In the meantime, the Blue Jays will gladly take a catcher lunging for first and a reserve infielder slamming into home a split-second early.