TORONTO -- Alek Manoah's remarkable 2022 season left us all asking: What next? We’re still asking the same question, but for much different reasons.

Manoah gave the Blue Jays just four innings in Wednesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Brewers at Rogers Centre, opening three of those frames with a walk. He labored at times, slowed by so many of the same issues that have sent his ‘23 season careening in the wrong direction, and Toronto needs to find answers.

For the first two months, the Blue Jays didn’t have to worry about what came next. Manoah was, and still is, a gifted pitcher coming off a third-place finish in last year’s American League Cy Young Award voting.

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Surely, it wouldn’t last, and a quick fix would come around the corner.

Well, it’s lasting.

Manoah’s tone was different following this latest loss, too. Typically defiant and plowing forward, even through struggles, you could hear the strain these two months have taken in Manoah’s voice.

“It’s been tough,” Manoah said, before pausing to collect himself and exhale. “I’m not doing what I’m meant to be doing. I just have to keep fighting and finding positives.”

Manoah’s ERA now reads 5.46, more than double the 2.24 that catapulted him to stardom a year ago. The reasons why he’s struggled are no secret. Manoah is walking too many hitters, and when he gets behind in counts, he tries to be “too fine,” nibbling at the edges of the zone and unable to attack with his best breaking balls.

That’s what it looks like from the outside, though. Manoah explained what it feels like from the inside, and it’s as close as we’ll get to truly understanding what he is going through on the mound right now.

“The mindset of, ‘Don’t throw a ball here' instead of, ‘Throw a strike right here’ is ... it’s a difference-maker,” Manoah said. “Right now, I’m stuck in, ‘Don’t throw a ball here.’”

The broadcast showed Manoah sitting in the dugout in the bottom of the fourth, just minutes after being told that his night was over at 89 pitches. You could see the gears spinning in his mind and the frustration on his face.

All Manoah has known in the big leagues is success … until this.

In the past, Manoah’s frustrations have been more vocal, like last week at Tropicana Field after he lasted just three innings against the Rays. Manoah was by no means arguing with manager John Schneider, from what the broadcast showed, but Schneider was well within the blast radius as Manoah paced the dugout and let off some steam.

“In the heat of the moment, anyone can say anything they don’t really mean or that they may regret, myself included,” Schneider said prior to Wednesday’s game. “Sometimes, it’s Alek and that’s part of what makes him great.

“I think we’re at the point now where he understands that I’m trying to do what’s right for him and the team.”

That’s exactly what Schneider did by telling Manoah he couldn’t have the fifth against the Brewers. Sending Manoah back out there, in the simplest of terms, was not the Blue Jays’ best chance at winning.

Many projected a mild regression for Manoah this season, but no one expected this.

“We’re talking about a guy that’s been really good,” Schneider said. “We’re trying to build off of each side session, each outing, and go from there. It’s kind of up to him to just continue to attack the zone.

“He’s just got to take it one inning and one outing at a time.”

So, what next?

This is as much a mental challenge as a physical one for Manoah, so this isn’t neat and tidy. There will be no “a-ha!” moment. This is about rebuilding a pitcher’s confidence first and foremost, then taking the second step of turning that confidence into results with the actual physical action of throwing the baseball.

The Blue Jays don’t have someone kicking down the door to take a rotation spot and let Manoah quickly reset at the Triple-A level, either, as their starting depth is waiting on either Hyun Jin Ryu’s recovery from Tommy John surgery or No. 1 prospect Ricky Tiedemann’s development to save the day.

Regardless of where it happens, though, this is something Manoah needs to figure out.

That day will come. The Blue Jays believe it, and even through the strain of another loss, so does Manoah. Right now, the hope is that Manoah fully confronting what’s wrong is the first step to rediscovering the incredible gifts he still possesses.