It has been an eventful week at Rogers Centre. The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees played a chaotic four-game series earlier this week that included, among other things, controversy over Aaron Judge glancing at the first base coach during an at-bat, Domingo Germán getting busted with a foreign substance, and coaches jawing at each other.
On Saturday, Alek Manoah got into it with Baltimore Orioles infielder Adam Frazier, yelling at him and using some choice words to tell him to go back to the dugout following a sixth inning strikeout. Blue Jays manager John Schneider came out to speak to Manoah after the exchange with Frazier, presumably to help him get his focus back on the game.
There was one small problem though: Schneider did not realize it was the second mound visit of the inning. Pitching coach Pete Walker visited Manoah earlier in the frame. By rule, you must change pitchers following the second mound visit in an inning, so Manoah had to come out of the game. He'd thrown 85 pitches in 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball.
"I f----d up." Schneider told MLB.com about the mound visit after the game. "But I think, regardless of my f--- up, it was the right time to get him out."
The score was tied 2-2 when Manoah was forced to exit. The Blue Jays went on to take a 5-2 lead, though the O's tied it on Ryan O'Hearn's eighth inning three-run homer against Jordan Romano. Baltimore won the game in 10 innings (BAL 6, TOR 5 in 10 innings). Toronto has lost five of their last six games, all to AL East rivals.
Those five losses in the last six games -- all at home at Rogers Centre -- have dropped the Blue Jays into last place. They are 25-21 on the season, which certainly isn't bad, though the AL East is incredibly competitive. In that division, an 88-win pace equals last place.
The Blue Jays wrap up their homestand and their series with the Orioles on Sunday. Things don't get any easy after that though. Toronto begins a four-game series with the first place Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday.
