Jays' Manoah manhandled in rookie-level game

TAMPA, Fla. — Toronto Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah was hit hard in his first game after returning to the minors, allowing 11 runs over 2⅔ innings in a rookie-level Florida Complex League game Tuesday.

The Blue Jays sent the struggling right-hander down on June 6 after the 2022 All-Star and AL Cy Young finalist couldn’t get out of the first inning against the Houston Astros.

Pitching for the FCL Blue Jays against the Yankees at New York’s minor league complex, he gave up 10 hits, including two homers, two walks against a lineup comprising players who were mostly 17 to 19 years old.

After Manoah, 25, allowed an RBI single to Hans Montero in the first, Roderick Arias hit a second-inning three-run homer that cleared the approximately 30-foot center-field batter’s eye. Arias, 18, received a $4 million signing bonus in 2022 from the Yankees.

Manoah needed 26 pitches, including 15 strikes, in the second.

Manoah was chased after giving up six more runs in the third that featured an opposite-field two-run homer to right by Keiner Delgado.

Manoah was booed by Toronto fans after allowing six runs and seven hits in one-third of an inning on June 5 in his seventh straight losing decision. He went 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA in 13 starts after going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts last season.

Manoah has allowed 45 runs in 58 innings. He allowed 55 in 196⅔ innings in 2022. He went 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 20 starts as a rookie in 2021.