Luke Fox joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to detail how some of the Maple Leafs’ recent struggles in the playoffs were evident early this season.
PHILADELPHIA – The way small plays can add up over the course of a baseball game is why John Schneider made attention to detail such a focal point for the Toronto Blue Jays. Sometimes they represent a series of incremental gains, equalling a greater whole. Sometimes, they stick out blatantly once all is said and done. Players can’t be sure which ones will play big. Either way, they matter.
Take Alek Manoah’s pitch-timer violation that led to an automatic fourth ball for Brandon Marsh to open the fifth. Maybe the right-hander would have missed the zone anyway. Or maybe the Philadelphia Phillies centre-fielder would have swung through a full-count offering for an out. But Manoah, by beginning his windup a hair late, didn’t give himself a chance.
Or later in that inning, when Marsh was off on the pitch and Trea Turner lined a single to right-centre field, Santiago Espinal took the relay from Kevin Kiermaier and looked to third instead of throwing home immediately, unaware Marsh had turned. His too-late throw home bounced at the plate, allowing Turner to take second, and while a good throw to Alejandro Kirk doesn’t guarantee a run-preventing out, it was certainly possible.
Then, another pitch timer violation on Trevor Richards helped the eighth inning unravel on the Blue Jays, finally pushing a one-run game into an 8-4 Phillies win Tuesday night. As the grind for Manoah and his weirdly pedestrian slider continued, and the offence went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, those costly little moments tilted the slog further uphill.
“You can’t let those things happen,” Schneider lamented afterwards. “I think we’re at the point where we need to tighten that up. … You’ve got to play a little bit tighter to win those games.”
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s return reinforced the batting order, George Springer’s ongoing struggle with a viral infection kept him the starting lineup, limiting him to a pinch-hit at-bat against Gregory Soto during a seventh-inning of unfulfilled opportunity.
A fly ball in that spot with the bases loaded and one out would have tied the game, but sapped by illness and coming in cold against the lefty’s high-90s filth, it was a near impossible task. Danny Jansen, hitting for Brandon Belt, followed with a grounder to third that ended the frame.
Richards’ violation contributed to a leadoff walk by Dalton Guthrie, the Phillies proceeded to load the bases with no outs and Erik Swanson took over, allowing a Marsh two-run double and Bryson Stott run-scoring fielder’s choice.
“It’s a tough ask of him, we’re kind of hoping to catch lightning in a bottle there a little bit,” Schneider said of sending Springer up to face Soto. “You can say the same thing for Swanny, bringing him into a really hard spot, bases loaded, nobody out against Marsh. You’re hoping for a big play or a big pitch from guys that you really trust and tonight wasn’t it.”
The same held true for Manoah’s slider as the Blue Jays’ three-game win streak came to an end.
For the second straight outing, he didn’t get a single swinging strike on his primary put-away pitch and had just three whiffs on 42 swings overall. He managed the game through the first three innings but a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper in the fourth was followed by a two-run Nick Castellanos homer that put the Phillies up 2-1.
The homer was the fourth Manoah has allowed on a slider this season – the same number he allowed all of last year. While the Phillies also made four outs on sliders while fouling off eight others, it’s not the weapon it was a year ago, when hitters swung through it 31.8 per cent of the time, compared to 11.5 per cent this year.
Manoah threw it a touch harder in 2022 at 81.5 m.p.h. compared to 81 now, but the bigger change is in the horizontal break on the pitch, from 14.5 inches to 12.7 inches. As he’s fought command issues, it’s made everything play down for him, leading to the erratic results.
“When that’s there, he’s as effective as anyone in the league,” Schneider said of the slider before the game, “and when it’s not, it’s tough to really finish someone off with one or two pitches.”
When the slider is effective, “it opens up back-door two-seamer, elevated four-seamer,” added Schneider. “If he’s going to really be the pitcher that he was last year and the pitcher he can be, it’s going to come down to that.”
Minus his finishing move, Manoah walked four against the Phillies, the fifth time in eight starts this season he’s walked at least four batters. Compounding matters is that he struck out only one, the lowest total of his career.
“It just needs to be a little bit more consistent,” Manoah said of his slider. “I’ve got to obviously get in the zone more. Can’t be walking four guys every start. And I think just being in the zone more will allow them to chase more pitches.”
He attributed the command issues to “just trying to be perfect. Stuff is good enough. I really don’t need to be trying to paint corners or anything. I just need to get back to attacking hitters with my best stuff and make them come beat me. I’m kind of beating myself a little bit.”
Two of his four walks scored against the Phillies as did both of Richards’ walks in the eighth.
“Alek is really good for a reason and he’s going to he’s going to fix it,” said Schneider. “I think when you look up at the end of the year, this is kind of a blip on the radar a little bit, a little bit of a speed bump. Right now he wants so badly to do well and help this team, that’s where it’s a little bit frustrating for him. Have all the confidence in the world in him.”
On Tuesday, the frustration wasn’t his alone.
Related Posts
About Author
