GDB 6.0: Can Toronto Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah get back on track against the Kansas City Royals?
By Zach Laing
7 months agoThe rotation has officially rotated and we’re back at the top of the order.
Alek Manoah will return to the mound tonight as the Toronto Blue Jays look to take a series lead against the Kansas City Royals. After falling in a disappointing game one, the Yusei Kikuchi Revenge Tour got off to a great start last night as the Jays had a strong 4-1 win.
It featured a strong night on the mound from Kikuchi and Matt Chapman continued to shine early on in this season. He batted cleanup against the lefty Brady Singer and went 3-for-4 with his fifth double of the season.
I feel like we’re going to be seeing a dominant performance from Manoah on the mound tonight. He’s a competitor and there’s no doubt he’s frustrated after he got lit up in the season opener against the Cardinals. The good news? He knew right after that game what went wrong for him.
“I made a couple pitches that kind of stayed over the heart of the plate that left the ballpark,” Manoah said. “That’s just the way the game went today … I didn’t get beat on good pitches, I got beat on bad pitches, and that’s an easy adjustment.”
Well tonight he has the chance to make those adjustments a reality against an impotent Royals team. We saw a good pitching performance from Kikuchi last night, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Manoah can bounce back with a big night tonight.
First pitch: 7:40 p.m. EST
Weather: 11C. 10 MPH W winds. (RotoGrinders)
Moneyline: TOR -182; KCR +152.
O/U: 8.5 — o8.5 -102; u8.5 -120.
O/U: 8.5 — o8.5 -102; u8.5 -120.
The Jays are massive favourites tonight as one of few later games tonight. Vegas is clearly thinking the same as I was above in that Manoah should have a big performance.
Starting pitchers:
TOR: Alek Manoah RHP — 0-0, 13.50 ERA, 3.300 WHIP, 8.1 K9.
STL: Zack Greinke RHP — 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 1.1313 WHIP, 6.8 K9.
Lineups:
TBA
GAME DAY PREDICTION: It’s Alek Manoah bump day! He pitches a great performance in a win.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Daulton Varsho gets on base twice.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: With the Royals posting a 25 percent strikeout rate, Manoah fans seven batters tonight.
Need to bide the time until first pitch?
Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks about the season-opening series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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