Barring injury or demotion, Alek Manoah has thrown his last pitch in Buffalo.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ projected starter for Tuesday’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Sahlen Field was placed on the 10-day injured list with a back contusion Monday after slipping and falling down the rain-soaked dugout stairs a couple of days earlier, Jays manager Charlie Montoyo announced.
The Jays hope the right-handed Manoah misses only one start. His IL stint is retroactive to July 16, making him eligible to return as soon as Monday.
“We’ll take it day to day,” Montoyo said.
Manoah has a 2-1 record, 2.90 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 40.1 innings this season.
Right-handed pitcher Thomas Hatch is expected to replace Manoah, the 11th overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft, in the rotation for Tuesday’s start.
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Hatch was recalled from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. He owns a 2.15 ERA in eight starts for the Bisons this season with 29 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched.
The Blue Jays also placed right-handed pitcher Anthony Castro on the IL with right ulnar nerve irritation and infielder Breyvic Valera on the family medical emergency list.
Outfielder Jonathan Davis also was recalled from Triple A.
Alex Cora’s Buffalo ties
Red Sox manager Alex Cora never played a game in Buffalo, but he did play three games with the Bisons on an injury rehab assignment for a thumb issue in 2009, his first year with the New York Mets.
All three games were on the road in Durham, N.C. But he does have a fond childhood memory from Sahlen Field.
Cora’s older brother, Joey Cora, played in the inaugural Triple-A All-Star game in 1988 at what was then known as Pilot Field. The elder Cora, a second baseman for the Las Vegas Stars, played for the National League. The American League beat the National League, 2-1, on July 13, 1988, in Buffalo. There were 19,500 fans in attendance.
“I thought it was cool to come here, just thinking about that,” Alex Cora said.
Joey Cora went on to play 11 major league seasons with the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians from 1987 to '98.
The Triple-A All-Star game returned to Buffalo in 2012, when the Pacific Coast League captured a 3-0 victory against the International League. There were 18,025 fans at Coca-Cola Field.
Unusual environs
The Red Sox entered Tuesday night’s game with the best road record in the American League this season, a 28-19 mark and .596 winning percentage.
They open the second half of the season by playing on 17 consecutive days, with all games against AL East opponents.
“From our end, we went to Dunedin, we did a good job down there,” Cora said about taking two of three games against the Blue Jays at their spring training facility earlier this season. “The first day was a little bit tough because we didn’t know what to expect. No fans and obviously it was a lot different.
“But here, if you don’t get used to the environment, just look at the other side of the field. That’s a good baseball team, a team that’s in contention, and we’ve got to do our jobs. So we’ll put everything aside and we’ll compete against them and hopefully we have a good series.”
The Red Sox and Blue Jays split a two-game series at Sahlen Field last season.
