Raimel Tapia catches the ball for an out as third baseman Matt Chapman looks on in the ninth inning against the Seattle Mariners during game one of the Wild Card series on Oct. 7.Nick Turchiaro/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
The latest: Seattle Mariners eliminate Blue Jays in wild-card series sweep
Suddenly, the Blue Jays are on the brink of elimination.
Toronto starter Alek Manoah had a surprisingly disastrous first inning in his playoff debut. His teammates couldn’t crack Seattle’s hot-throwing starter, and the Blue Jays fell 4-0 to the Mariners in the first game of their American League wild-card series, forcing them into a win-or-go-home situation on Saturday.
The Jays will send veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman to the hill for Game 2, hoping to force a Game 3 in a series they host entirely. Seattle will go with ex-Blue Jay and 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray as it aims for the closeout.
Friday’s atmosphere started out electric in Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which was holding its first playoff baseball game since 2016. But the Mariners had their own motivations – their first post-season appearance in 21 years. The crowd of 47,402 waved their blue playoff rally towels. The fan noise was deafening under the closed dome as Manoah prayed into his glove just off the mound right before the game began. Toronto’s undisputed choice as its Game 1 starter took one final deep breath and charged onto the mound. Playing in just his first full season in the major leagues, after earning his first all-star nod, the 24-year-old was ready to debut in October’s bright lights.
But the first inning didn’t look like Manoah at all.
Cathal Kelly: In the blink of an eye, Blue Jays’ feel-good story takes a horrific turn
Toronto Blue Jays are back in the playoffs. Here’s your guide to the post-season
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound right-hander had not allowed a run in his last 15 innings of the regular season, but he couldn’t get his fastball right at first. He put the leadoff batter on base by hitting him with a pitch, he allowed a run-scoring double, and a two-run homer.
That was the first time in 16 home starts that Manoah gave up runs in the first inning. In the blink of an eye, Seattle had a 3-0 lead, and Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend was off to a sombre start.
The Jays struggled to get much off 29-year-old Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo. He was giving up scattered singles to the host team – providing mini moments of hope to the Jays faithful – but Toronto could not score.
Alejandro Kirk put some energy back in the building in the second inning with a leadoff single but was quickly erased when Teoscar Hernandez hit into a double-play.
Castillo troubled the Jays with his two different fast balls – both hurling upwards of 99 and 100 miles an hour – a sinker pounding inside and a four-seamer going up and away.
In the blink of an eye, Blue Jays’ feel-good story takes a horrific turn
“It’s not the velocity itself. We’re used to seeing velocity it’s all throughout the league, but he’s got two different fast balls at that level,” said Toronto second baseman Whit Merrifield. “When you got two pitches over 99 that are doing two different things, that makes it tough.”
Manoah seemed to settle in after the first inning. For a stretch he retired nine batters in a row.
The fifth inning was rough, too. Manoah hit Seattle’s leadoff hitter, Julio Rodriguez, for the second time. Then he allowed another single and the speedy Rodriguez made it home.
The Jays pulled Manoah after 5 2/3 innings. In 78 pitches, he gave up four hits, four earned runs and a walk against four strikeouts. It was a far cry from his usual all-star stuff. The previous day, Manoah had said, “I know how to play baseball more than I know how to do anything in this world. So I kind of just got to go keep doing it.”
The jovial well-liked pitcher, who led the Jays with 16 wins, didn’t look as cool and composed as expected. Inside the Jays dugout, Manoah, crushed, threw his glove and hat to the ground. It might have been his last outing of the season.
“Today, it wasn’t good enough,” a sombre Manoah said
Castillo, who allowed six hits and didn’t issue a walkover his 108 pitches, was simply lights-out while shutting out the Jays through 7 1/3 innings. His most damaging pitch may have been the last of his outing – an inside fastball hurling at 98 mph that drilled Springer in the left hand and had the Jays slugger wincing in pain (later X-rays proved negative for a fracture). Springer spent a long while with a trainer before trotting to first base. He, too, was left on base.
Toronto’s bullpen did its job down the stretch – didn’t allow any more runs – but its hitters just couldn’t produce any.
Toronto interim manager John Schneider was eager to see what his team is made of.
“Just understand that you ran into a really good pitcher today,” Schneider said of his mindset. “So flush it, move on.”