Absolutely, Alek Manoah
2 years ago
Alek Manoah was the 11th overa…
You know what? No. You know who Alek Manoah is, everyone does. 7 IP, 3 H, 10 K, 1 BB, 0 ER. That is Manoah’s pitching line. That’s right.
Things worth mentioning…
Alek Manoah has pitched like a damn ace this season and tonight was no different. Who cares that he only pitched 35 innings in the minors, a number he eclipsed in seven games in the majors. Who cares that he’s only 23?
His confidence, his composure, his demeanour, Manoah has the making of an ace.
Walked a guy in the first? Cool, strike out the next two. Springer hit a two-run shot in the Jays’ half of the inning and the game was done, that’s how locked in Manoah was tonight. In the second, he struck out the side with some nasty sliders that should be illegal.
The Jays added more runs giving Manoah the win. In the top of the third, Manoahson literally struck out a guy by hitting him (Vlad just hit a home run as I’m writing this). I call Manoah, Manoahson because in the minors he hit 4 batters while only walking three, very Bob Gibson-like.
In the fourth, he didn’t get a strikeout but he had an efficient inning. In the fifth, he returned to his striking out ways as he struck out two.
At this point, he hadn’t allowed a hit. Starting in the sixth, Semien makes an incredible leaping catch robbing the Rays of their first hit. Unfortunately, Meija, the guy Manoah hit/struck out with the nasty slider, loops it into shallow centerfield. Grichuk had it in his glove but just couldn’t get to it. The no-hitter ends at 5.1 IP.
Now with a runner at second, Manoah strikes out Lowe and induces a flyball to finish the sixth.
In the seventh, if Grichuk’s missed catch wasn’t considered a hit (it was, as it should have been), Wander Franco certainly got the hit. Manoah got the next two batters out and then allowed another single, really the first sign of trouble in the game. No biggie though, as he induces a grounder to Bichette.
This ended Manoah’s fantastic night.
Thoughts…
What are my thoughts? I don’t know. I can’t really put it into words at the moment. You have a guy who is incredibly green in the minors with 35 IP. When he was called up, the Jays desperately needed pitching. Stripling wasn’t good at the time, they didn’t really have a fifth starter and Matz was okay. I imagine this is how the conversation went:
“Well hell, this kid named Alek Manoah who has pitched 18 innings in Triple-A, only allowing one run and striking out 17. This kid named @Brennan_L_D on Twitter is spamming us to call him up, let’s do it.”
They did it and it has been the best decision they’ve made in this season. In seven starts, he has four quality starts. Furthermore, another game he was an inning away from another quality start. He’s had two bad starts, but other than that he’s been fantastic.
Does this article make sense? Maybe not. As I’m writing this I’m just buzzing with excitement because I’ve never once seen a pitcher dominate this quickly. Manoah is very good, and while he hasn’t been here for that long, he has the makings of an ace.
Follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D. Currently I’m trying to force them to call up Kevin Smith who is also playing out of his mind.
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