Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alec Manoa (25) made a play that spoke of desperation, but it turned into another poor outing.
Manoa started the game against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday (June 6) and gave up six runs on seven hits (one home run) and one walk in ⅓ innings.
After being hit by a leadoff single from Mauricio Duvon, Manoa faced Jeremy Peña with the bases loaded. With one strike, Manoa threw a 79.6-mile-per-hour (128.1 km/h) slider on the second pitch and Peña attempted a surprise bunt. Peña’s bunt was exquisite, rolling down the third base foul line and just barely out of bounds. Frantic, Manoa blew air through his mouth to try to get the ball out, but the ball stopped in fair territory and Peña bunted.
As MLB.com explains, “The ball was rolling 먹튀검증 toward the foul line when it changed direction into fair territory. That’s when Manoa decided to encourage the ball. With third baseman Matt Chapman waiting for the ball on the other side, Manoa stooped low, almost to his stomach, to try to blow the ball out. It was harder than it looked, though, and Manoa had no luck changing the ball’s path.”
After breakout seasons in 2021 and 2022 that saw him become Toronto’s main starter, Manoa has fallen into a long slump this season. In 13 games (58 innings), he is 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA. In a desperate attempt to rebound, Manoa tried blowing air into the ball, but it didn’t last more than one inning before he was pulled.
This is not the first time Manoa has tried to blow on a ball to get it out of the foul line. According to MLB.com, “The play dates back to 1981. Seattle third baseman Lenny Randle famously blew the wind out of Amos Ortiz’s bunt foul ball. The bunt looked like it had a good chance of being a fair, but Randle was truly committed to knocking the ball out of the park. He lay flat on the ground and crawled up on his hands and knees to get the ball out. Ortiz was still ruled to have gone to first base.” The umpire at the time initially ruled Ortiz’s hit a foul, but after some discussion, he changed it to a hit.
