KANSAS CITY — Alek Manoah has thought long and hard about it and has a plan return to his all-star form in his second start of the season later this week.
It’s time, the big Blue Jays starter said on Monday, to unleash the beast.
The Jays need something from a rotation that truly could use a kick-start after a third dismal starting effort on Monday night as Jose Berrios was blasted for eight runs in a 9-5 loss to the lowly Royals.
Manoah will get his crack at K.C. on Wednesday, looking for redemption from his own career-worst start on opening day.
And the way things are going for a beleaguered rotation early in the season, the Jays are going to need it. And not just from their ace and 2022 all star. From Manoah’s own struggles, to Kevin Gausman’s rotten luck and then unacceptable season debuts from Chris Bassitt and now Berrios, it’s time for a positive spin of the rotation.
Will Manoah be the man to provide it?
After an opening day start that went off the rails by his standards, the big Jays righty has, upon reflection, decided that a little dose of aggression is in order from the Jays starters, beginning with himself.
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“We’re going to continue to learn and continue to get better,” Manoah said. “The more we go out there and turn this rotation over, we’re going to gain confidence. We’ve got a lot of good guys in this rotation.
“I don’t see the opening weekend being a foreshadow of what this season’s going to be. I see it as being we’re going to get the kinks out of the way.”
Next up is Yusei Kikuchi here on Tuesday when we’ll see if the story of the spring can pitch for real. But beyond that, the horses at the front end have to be good.
When the offence hasn’t exactly been lighting it up, the lacklustre starts from Manoah, Bassitt and Berrios came at a cost.
“It’s tough to crawl out of a hole every night, but we trust these guys,” said Schneider, after a particularly frustrating evening at Kauffman Stadium. “The beginning of the year is tough. It’s tough for our offence to throw some things out there consistently when you’re down like that.
“Hopefully it gets better second time (through).”
Hope and a prayer time as the Jays have started 1-3 for just the eighth time in franchise history and the first since 2017.
BREAKING DOWN BERRIOS
To Schneider’s credit, he has zero interest in sugar coating poor efforts from his starters. He didn’t do it with Bassitt, nor did he suggest on Monday that Berrios was good enough.
“Good and bad,” was Schneider’s assessment. “Really good innings and just pitches in the middle of the plate, which is what we’re trying to avoid.
“He executed, but the consistency of it wasn’t exactly where we had hoped.”
Maddening it must be to see some shut-down type stuff in the second and third innings bookended by the first and fourth where Berrios game up a combined seven runs.
“That was on me,” said Berrios, who allowed eight runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings. “I missed some pitches. It wasn’t the way I wanted. (Royals hitters) had a good approach, but that was on me.”
COUNT ON KIKUCHI
While there will be plenty of skepticism on Kikuchi’s ability to be a key arm in the rotation, don’t try to sell that to Manoah.
In fact, the youngest man on the Jays rotation has been impressed by the version of the Japanese lefty he’s seen this spring.
“Kuch, he works hard and he really takes it personal,” Manoah said. “The kind of year he had last year … I’m really excited to see him this year and the different kind of beast he’s going to be.”
Just how beastly?
“He’s got better stuff than anybody in the rotation,” Manoah said. “We watch him thrown his bullpens. It’s an easy 97 (mile per hour fastball) with life and he’s got four other pitches. It’s just a matter of going out there and using them to his advantage and having confidence in them.
“Respect the hitters but don’t give them too much credit. He knows he has really good stuff.”
CHAPMAN DELIVERS
It hasn’t resulted in much yet, but the sizzling bat of Matt Chapman has been a sign of encouragement.
The third baseman doubled in the second and fifth innings on Monday to give him three multi-hit games. He’s batting an impressive .533 with four two baggers.
“He’s been good,” Schneider said. “His results in spring, I couldn’t really tell you what they were, but his process was good.
“He wants to prove he’s a little bit more of an offensive threat than he was last year and getting off to a good start is a good thing.”
AROUND THE BASES
At least Berrios pitched into the sixth inning on Monday, a move that might have saved some bullpen arms given he had spotted the Royals a 7-0 lead. And it also allowed him to exit with an ERA of 12.71, lower than Manoah (13.50) and Bassitt (24.30) … The Royals, meanwhile, have a collective ERA of 2.66 from their starters through four games … Condolences to Jays pitching coach Pete Walker, who will miss at least the first three games of the series as he leaves to be with family following the death of his father. Jeff Ware took over Walker’s duties while Pat Hentgen joined the team to handle the bullpen …… Manoah will continue to grow his profile as a correspondent on MLB Network’s MLB Central. His weekly hits will air on the channel on Tuesday mornings.
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