Manoah leaves to boos after allowing 6 runs in 1st inning vs. Astros
Toronto Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah was shelled by the Houston Astros in the latest rough outing of his dismal 2023 season.
Manoah was tagged for six earned runs on seven hits while recording just one out in the first inning at Rogers Centre before being removed by manager John Schneider. Four of the runs scored on a Corey Julks grand slam.
Corey Julks with a grand slam and the Astros have put up SIX runs off Alek Manoah in the first!
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 5, 2023
pic.twitter.com/gVQGK9UE5n
Manoah was booed by some of the home fans as he left the mound following Jake Meyers' single.
Jay Jackson limited the damage by getting the final two outs of the first and stranding two inherited runners. The Astros went on to win 11-4.
The outing made Manoah the 21st pitcher since 1901 to allow at least six earned runs and seven hits while recording one out or fewer in a start, per Stathead. He's also the first Blue Jays starter to surrender seven hits in the first inning since Pat Hentgen in 1995, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Manoah has looked nothing like the pitcher who finished third in AL Cy Young voting last season. Monday's outing spiked his ERA to 6.36 with a 1.90 WHIP, 11 home runs allowed, and a major league-leading 42 walks across 13 starts. He's given up at least five earned runs in four of his outings.
The hardest part about all this for Alek Manoah?
— Ethan Diamandas (@EthanDiamandas) June 6, 2023
“Letting my teammates down,” he said. #BlueJays
Calls to let the 25-year-old work out his issues in the minors have grown louder in recent weeks. Schneider didn't make it sound like such a move was imminent before the game, and still wasn't ready to go there following Monday's contest.
"I think so. The game just ended," Schneider said when asked if Manoah will make his next scheduled start Saturday, according to TSN's Scott Mitchell.
"As of now, we're not sitting here making plans for anything, but doing everything we can do for him means using every resource that we have, using the staff, and using his teammates to help him through it," the skipper added, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. "When I say that everything is on the table, yeah, everything is. We're just trying to help him get back to the caliber of pitcher that he was."