Ohtani and Manoah Deliver Anticipated Show In Blue Jays Loss
It was the hottest ticket in town.
With a pre-game World Series celebration, a bomber jacket giveaway, and an eye-popping pitching matchup, Saturday's Blue Jays vs Angels contest was an easy sell-out with elevated expectations.
For the 45,311 who attended the matinee performance, there was plenty of room to disappoint. But Alek Manoah and Shohei Ohtani delivered the expected show.
"That was like an old fashioned pitching duel," manager John Schneider said. "They were kind of toe-to-toe there for seven."
Manoah had first crack at the Japanese two-way star, as Ohtani stepped into the box to a concoction of crowd cheers, boos, and inquisitive awe in the first. The Angels SP/DH has played in Toronto before, appearing in eight games against the Jays and slapping a triple the night before as DH. New to the Canadian crowd, though, was the other half of his two-way game. So when Ohtani took the mound in the bottom half of the frame, after working a walk in the top, the real show began.
The two hurlers dodged obstacles with traffic-filled first innings before settling into their expected grooves. Manoah mixed his usual sinker, slider, and fastball combo to the tune of eight strikeouts while Ohtani featured all six of his deliveries, including a 99 MPH heater, earning nine Ks of his own.
It was the type of pitcher's duel Dave Stieb—who said before the game he liked watching the modern hard-throwers—would've loved. In the third, Ohtani dotted a blazing fastball on the outside corner to George Springer, freezing Toronto's leadoff hitter for the first of Ohtani's three punch-outs looking. All Springer could do was flinch and spin back to the dugout, unable to premeditate the perfectly placed pitch.
"It's four or five pitches, It's 100 miles an hour, It's nasty stuff. So you got to tip your hat to him," Schneider said.
Manoah had to match the 2021 MVP without his premiere stuff. Sitting just under 92 MPH on his fastball in the opening frames (down from his season average) the Toronto righty still racked up strikeouts, induced soft contact, and worked around baserunners.
As the innings ticked on and the pair of starters traded donuts, Manoah's velocity increased, though, and the outs came easier. Reaching 95.5 MPH with his four-seamer in his final frames, Manoah retired four of his final five batters via strikeout.
“Every game is Game 7 of the World Series for me," Manoah said. "It doesn’t matter if Ohtani’s on the mound or Roger Clemens. It doesn’t matter.”
Ohtani had the opportunity to help his own cause in the sixth with two Angels on base ahead of him. With David Fletcher bouncing off second, the lefty slugger slashed at Manoah’s opening sinker, twisting in the batter’s box as he connected on nothing but air. While Manoah won the matchup two strikes later, inducing a bouncer back to the mound and a near double play, Ohtani did move the eventual first run over to third.
Toronto's starter was near flawless, allowing only the one run Ohtani helped manufacture. The only issue was Ohtani was better, preventing Toronto from even sniffing a score. In every pitcher's duel, one team still comes out on top. On Saturday, it was Ohtani's Angels.
Mitch Bannon is a baseball reporter for Sports Illustrated covering the Toronto Blue Jays and their minor league affiliates.Twitter: @MitchBannon