A night after a stunning loss to the underdog, last-place Kansas City Royals, the Blue Jays (48-43) bounced back with an 8-1 drubbing behind a strong start by Alec Manoa and three-inning blasts by both Teoscar Hernandez as well as by Matt Chapman. The Royals (36-53) traveled to Toronto without 10 players – including outfielders Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor and Kyle Isbel – who did not meet Canada’s vaccination requirements for COVID-19. Five different players have made their major league debuts for the Royals already in this series, so a second straight loss for the Blue Jays would not be a good look. Especially during a week that saw the club sack their manager. That’s not a concern, though, and now the team has a chance to improve to 4-1 under new bench coach John Schneider with wins on Saturday and Sunday heading into the all-star break. “They came out and punched us yesterday, so to respond with a nice win today is huge,” said Matt Chapman, whose blast into the second deck to left field pushed the Blue Jays’ lead to 7. -1, more than enough support for a sovereign Manoah. The second-year right-hander, who will head to next week’s all-star game in Los Angeles, has outscored Royals hitters in his seven innings of work with the help of a slider that has induced nine whiffs on 23 pitches. He struck out six, allowing just four hits and one run on 86 total pitches. “It’s a beast,” Snyder said. “He’s definitely put his name out there as one of the top guys in the league and is very, very deserving of an all-star selection. You can count on a quality start every time he’s out there.” The only damage against Manoah (10-4) came in the fifth frame when his errant slider hit Ryan O’Hearn, who came around to score on Nicky Lopez’s single to center. After a meeting with pitching coach Pete Walker, he agreed to retire the next two hitters with strikeouts and pitches. He now has 114.2 innings on the season, third in the American League. Manoah has reached that number in just 18 starts and is averaging over six innings per outing. Last year, after being called up to the majors in late May, Manoah totaled 111.2 innings in 20 starts. “He’s a workhorse,” Snyder said. “It’s been since he got here. And he just keeps doing it.” “It was a good first half with some good learning experiences there and definitely some good games to help build good momentum going into the second half,” said Manoah, who cited his routine and offseason work as reasons why he was able to to remain consistent. “The biggest thing is to have some good, quick innings and let our offense get back out there and do what they do. Like tonight. Being able to blow a 7-1 lead is pretty good. Just keep attacking and let this offense work.” That lead was built early when Blue Jays hitters jumped on veteran Royals first baseman Zack Greinke (3-6), who made his 503rd career big league start, moving him to 46th on the all-time list. Teoscar Hernandez led off the second inning with a bloop double to right field and advanced to third on Chapman’s single before scoring on a line drive to center field off the bat of Raimel Tapia. The next inning, Hernandez deposited an 87 mph cutter from Greinke over the center field fence for a three-run homer to push the lead to 4-0. The ball traveled 416 feet, thrilling the crowd of 26,422 at Rogers Centre. Chapman added to the celebrations when he hit his 15th home run of the season — one of his three hits on the night — in the fifth inning and said after the game that he’s starting to see results from the extra work he’s put into his swing. The Blue Jays have been hitting manager Guillermo Martinez and quarterback Dave Hudgens in recent days. “Just trying to use my legs a little bit,” Chapman said. “It’s easy to lose track of things over the course of a season. So I’m just trying to get that feeling back using my legs. When I use the ground, good things definitely happen. I’m just trying to be ready to help this team in the second half.” The third baseman entered the day with a .218/.295/.413 slash in 84 games this year — a far cry from the production he produced during his first three campaigns in Oakland. “I wasn’t satisfied with what I did at the plate,” he said. “I feel like I could really help this team if I’m right. So I was willing to make a change. It’s nothing too drastic – it’s just getting that feeling back in my legs, being able to drive the ball to all parts of the court. “I know I’m better than a .220 hitter.” Improved production from Chapman would be a welcome sight for the Blue Jays as they enter the second half next week. However, at the moment, they still have two games to go before they get there. And while Friday night offered plenty of positives for the Blue Jays, the way they played last month proved nothing is guaranteed — even if it’s against a group of players better suited for the triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers. “We’ve got to finish these next two games before we get to the all-star break,” Chapman said. “Every game is obviously important and to go into the all-star break with three straight would be huge. But obviously we are not looking at tomorrow. “We have to win tomorrow … Everything matters at this point.”
