Manning labors, but 'hungry' for next start

CLEVELAND -- For the second time in seven days, Matt Manning walked off the mound and back into the dugout in frustration. He had labored in a four-run, six-hit third inning, all but sealing the Tigers’ 6-1 loss to Cleveland on Friday night at Progressive Field, and it would’ve been worse if not for Derek Hill’s throw home to retire Bobby Bradley.

Manning pounded the dugout padding, then the bench, as he sat down and contemplated what went wrong in a 30-pitch inning. But his evening wasn’t over.

By comparison to Manning’s third-inning anger, his fourth-inning look was more of exasperation after two more runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly. He sat on the dugout bench, head in hands, after slamming a paper cup. The handshake from manager A.J. Hinch on his way down the dugout steps signified a merciful end to an outing that could best be described as a four-inning teachable moment.

“I think the frustration started in the first,” Hinch said. “I don’t think the four-spot was really what started it.”

While the Tigers are looking to win every game they can, they’re also in the business of developing young pitching for the years ahead, when they expect to contend. They also don’t have much experienced pitching available with Spencer Turnbull out for the year and Matthew Boyd and José Ureña rehabbing from injuries. Detroit has every reason to stick with Manning and let him learn on the job, including difficult lessons like these, some of the same lessons that Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal endured last year.

“We love Matt. We think he’s a big league pitcher,” Hinch said. “We think he’s going to have a high impact here, and he’s going to have to learn some things at this level. But I don’t want him to ride this roller coaster. We talk about a good start, and it’s a coming-out party and he’s arrived. He’s still going to have a bad night here or there, as is any other young pitcher that comes up here.”

Manning rose through the Tigers’ system with the ability to overpower hitters when he needed to. He started to learn the challenge of working without that advantage earlier this year at Triple-A Toledo. He’s facing it head-on in the big leagues. While his velocity is down, he’s at a level where his secondary pitches need to be consistent.

“He’s going to have to execute regardless,” Hinch said. “As we’ve seen, guys that are throwing 96-97 [mph] get hit around here, too, if you don’t execute.”

Manning got away with command issues early, retiring six of the first seven batters he faced despite falling behind against the first four. He seemed to gather himself in the second, fanning Harold Ramirez on an 0-2 slider before dropping an 0-2 curveball on Bradley Zimmer. He had a pair of three-pitch strikeouts in a nine-pitch inning that sent him into the third with the bottom of the Cleveland order due up.

From there, Manning’s outing became a nightmare. Unlike his previous debacle at Progressive Field on June 28, he avoided home runs, but Cleveland batters peppered him with singles and doubles. When he wasn’t paying for elevated two-seam fastballs, he was flustered by sliders that sometimes came out flat and other times hung over the plate.

“I think it was a location thing,” Manning said of the slider. “I threw some really good ones that I got some swing-and-misses on, and some that backed up and stayed over the plate.”

None of Cleveland’s hits topped 104 mph in exit velocity, but the hitters averaged just under 94 mph in exit velo off his sinker and slider.

“They barreled him up,” Hinch said. “They hit him hard in the first [inning] and he got out of it, and then a four-spot and a two-spot back-to-back. Some hits weren’t necessarily hit hard, but a lot of hard contact. And that comes with execution and going to the right area of the strike zone.”

Add together Manning’s two meetings with the Indians, and he has allowed 15 runs on 19 hits over 7 2/3 innings.

Manning finished Friday’s start with six runs on 10 hits, and has allowed 12 earned runs on 22 hits over 14 2/3 innings in his last three starts. He’ll get a rematch against one of those opponents in his start next week against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

He’ll prepare for that one the same as his others, he said, but with a little more motivation.

“I think it’s fuel for my next start,” Manning said. “It stinks getting kicked in the gut, but it makes you hungry for the next one.”