Blue Jays’ bats stay quiet, Berrios struggles early in loss to Cubs

The schedule gets a bit funky for the Toronto Blue Jays after a weekend set with the Chicago Cubs, three off-days in the span of eight days offering both a needed respite from the August grind and some challenges in running a six-man rotation.

Hence, the option of Alek Manoah to triple-A Buffalo on Friday afternoon, a move that in one fell swoop ended the burden of a seven-man bullpen, too many rest days between outings for the starters and created an opportunity to optimize for an Aug. 22-24 series in Baltimore.

Sounds good until you consider the downside, which in this case is Manoah enduring a second demotion in a jarring season of struggle for the right-hander – only this time, there’s no obvious path back to the majors like there was when he was first sent down in early June.

“We’ll see. You never really know,” manager John Schneider, speaking before a 6-2 loss to the Cubs, said of how Manoah can reclaim his roster spot. “A lot of it’ll be how the starters go and how they hold up physically and things like that. It’s up to him to just go down and be ready. When you get to the end of the season, all bets are off in terms of roles or roster spots. Really, you’re just trying to put the best team together. I think immediately just the role and the path for him is to get on a regular turn in the (Bisons) rotation and continue to get back to the pitcher that he can be.”

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Manoah see-sawed his way through six starts after rejoining the Blue Jays on July 7 in Detroit, when he struck out eight over six innings of one-run ball. He didn’t walk a single batter in that start but issued 17 over his next five outings, helping bloat his ERA to 4.91 in 29.1 innings in those six games. That it was still a sizable improvement on the 6.36 ERA he posted through his first 13 starts speaks to both how far he’s come and how much work remains.

“It just comes down to command, just being in the zone,” said Schneider. “The times that he’s in the zone here, he was really good. Issuing free passes and driving your pitch count up, it’s tough to win. So the same message that we’ve been talking to him all year, really, just have your delivery be sound. There was progress when he came back in certain things we’re looking at, between (his delivery), his breaking ball, and fastball command. It’s just continuing to work on those things.”

How Manoah gets after it in Buffalo matters because needs can change quickly, something reinforced late in Friday’s loss before a Rogers Centre crowd of 41,814.

Hagen Danner, the hard-throwing 24-year-old called up from Buffalo to take Manoah’s roster spot, injured himself seven pitches into his big-league debut and was forced to walk off the mound with one out and the count full on Yan Gomes.

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While Danner’s stay wasn’t expected to be a long one with Jordan Romano due to pitch in a rehab game with the Bisons on Saturday in anticipation of a Tuesday activation, Trevor Richards making progress and Chad Green, currently in concussion protocol, trending toward a return, too, opportunity is suddenly coming to someone.

There wasn’t much opportunity for the Blue Jays against the Cubs, who are now 17-6 over their last 23 games, a stretch that switched them from potential sellers to buyers at the trade deadline.

They ambushed Jose Berrios for a three-spot in the first on a Nico Hoerner solo shot and Cody Bellinger two-run drive, both homers coming on changeups, and then tacked on three more in the fourth after a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fielding error opened the frame.

Seiya Suzuki ripped a two-run double that made it 5-0 before Mike Tauchman’s RBI single further padded the lead. Both hits came on slurves.

The Blue Jays put precious little pressure on Javier Assad, who allowed just four hits, including Alejandro Kirk’s RBI single in the fourth, and a walk over his seven frames, the cold spell at the plate from Cleveland carrying over after the sizzling weekend in Boston a week ago.