Jays bats snooze in loss to Royals while Alek Manoah’s return looms

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The mostly fearsome foursome that has carried the Blue Jays rotation for more than a year now must occasionally grow weary of carrying the freight for the rest of the team.

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Whether it be making up for a sluggish offence or operating short-handed, they’ve been the pulse of the team for too long.

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But could some high-profile help be on the way, even after yet another quality outing from current ace Jose Berrios, who allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings in his latest work, went to waste?

Overshadowing Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals at the Rogers Centre was the looming potential of the long-awaited return to form of one-time ace Alek Manoah.

And given the need for a fifth starter after Cuban rookie Yariel Rodriguez was dispatched to the injury list with back inflammation earlier before to the latest loss, the timing of Manoah’s latest flash of hope was ideal.

The fact that Manoah not only got through six innings in a triple-A game in Indianapolis but struck out 12 in the process, the only blemish among his two hits allowed being a solo homer to Nick Gonzalez, was a huge leap forward for the struggling starter.

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Big enough, perhaps, that Manoah’s next start — partly based on that stellar outing, partly out of necessity — take place back in the major leagues for the first time since last August.

“You want to do what’s right for him, for us, for everyone,” manager John Schneider said prior to another night when it was his languid offence that conspired to the latest loss. “You want whenever you call guys up for them to be going good so you want to do what’s best for him and for us.

“We just need (Manoah) to be back to his normal self.”

That triple-A effort was the closest he’s been to his normal self in almost a year, 12 months of tumult for the former first-round pick that raised serious questions about his future with the club. In his previous outing with Buffalo, Manoah was dinged for six runs in just three innings.

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After matching his professional career high in strikeouts, there will be plenty of discussion regarding next steps for Manoah, but before Tuesday’s game against the Royals, Schneider acknowledged that “if he shoves” a quick return to the show would have to be considered.

There is certainly an urgency now that Rodriguez is out for at least a couple of weeks, but he was never going to be the answer for the fifth man in the rotation this early in the year anyway.

The next couple of weeks will certainly be interesting for Manoah, as he once again zooms into focus — a mercurial persona on this mercurial team.

And as much as they’ve gotten by with just four reliable, traditional starters — and that pitching has been far from the issue in their mediocre 15-16 record to date — the Jays are well aware that the workload shouldered by Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi is near unsustainable in today’s game.

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It’s worked so far because they players have been transparent with their aches and pains and the staff has planned well to keep them physically sound.

“It’s kind of what we were hoping for when we signed all of them,” Schneider said of his rotation’s versatility. “It’s been very beneficial for us that they have been the way they have been. I go back to them being in touch with (pitching coach Pete Walker), the training staff … they’re pretty honest (about how they feel and if more time is needed between starts) and they’re pretty professional. So it’s been it’s been a real luxury, their ability.”

Given how poorly the Jays offence has performed — Tuesday night just being the latest example — it’s not hard to envision where the team would be without such stout efforts from the quartet at the front end of the rotation.

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GAME ON

Despite the flashes from the previous night (six runs helped by three homers) the Jays had little answer for Royals starter Cole Ragans on Tuesday, the seventh game in their past eight that they’ve been held to three runs or fewer. It’s tough to muster traction with that output, as they slipped below .500 yet again … The big damage from the Royals was a two-run homer from Michael Massey in the second inning … The Jays’ lone run came via an RBI single from Bo Bichette in the sixth … The Jays fell to 2-3 on the current home stand (and 1-1 against the Royals) both of which wrap with a Wednesday matinee at the dome … Prior to the game, the Jays activated reliever Zach Pop to take the roster spot of Rodriguez and the Brampton native pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

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MANFRED VISITS DOME

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred paid a visit to the Rogers Centre before Tuesday’s game, making regularly scheduled team visits with both Blue Jays and Royals players.

Fairly routine stuff, with players given the opportunity to press the commish on rule changes and any other concerns they might have. In recent seasons, Manfred has made an effort to visit each team bat some point of the season.

Knocking off the Jays in Toronto made sense in that it afforded CEO Mark Shapiro an opportunity to squire Manfred around the renovated Rogers Centre, the latest opportunity to accentuate team’s ongoing pitch to land an all-star game sometime soon.

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