Replacing Manoah No Easy Challenge For Blue Jays

The Blue Jays turned to a bullpen game to replace the rotation hole left by Alek Manoah.

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

For the Blue Jays, life without Alek Manoah means an empty locker in the back corner of the clubhouse.

It means Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" playing pregame, instead of Drake or J. Cole. And, it means a patchwork bullpen game, attempting to piece together nine innings with five different arms.

Imagining life without the Opening Day starter could've been difficult for the Jays just months ago. But now, with Manoah sent to the minors to re-find his 2022 form, Toronto has to find a way to fill the rotation hole. Saturday's loss to the Twins was a reminder of that challenge.

"Really, before the eighth inning, I didn’t think we could’ve really scripted it any better than it went," manager John Schneider said. "So it just comes down to making pitches, and today wasn’t the day."

For most of Saturday's outing, it seemed like the 'pen game would work to perfection. Trevor Richards started things off with tumbling changeup after tumbling changeup, dodging Twins bats for three shutout frames. Then, Tim Mayza and Bowden Francis provided near-perfect middle innings to get the ball from Richards to the leverage arms.

But, the unique challenge of a bullpen game is that everyone has to be locked in. Using five different relievers means five different potential weak points. If even one doesn't have it, you're screwed. On Saturday, Adam Cimber didn't have it.

The Blue Jays sidewinder started off the eighth inning with two tough-luck singles — a bunt down the line and a broken bad blooper. Then the Twins started to square him up. After a Donovan Solano ripped single to load the bases, Carlos Correa stepped up.

Cimber squatted on the mound as Correa’s deep fly snuck over the outfield wall. The grand slam put four runs on the board for Minnesota, stole back the lead, and erased the seven clean innings of work Toronto's bullpen labored through to get there. The dangers of a bullpen day.

"It's tough. I mean, it's part of the game and [Cimber] knows that," Richards said. "He knows he'll be right back out there. We've all played this game long enough, we've all been there."

For the entire final month of the Blue Jays' 2022 season, the team trotted out Richards-led bullpen games to varying success. They went 2-2 in those four 'pen outings.

Manoah certainly wasn't giving the Jays a consistent chance to win, that's why they sent him down. So, any pitching reliability should be an upgrade in his rotation spot. But, covering nine innings with the 'pen every five days is a completely different beast.

In an ideal world, Toronto's bullpen experiments only last a few turns through the rotation until Manoah comes back strong, rejoining the team after refinding his 2022 ways. But, until that happens, the Jays have a challenge every five days.