Alek Manoah returns to Rogers Centre for first time since being booed

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From staff ace to a complete wild card, to say Alek Manoah has endured quite the ride would be stating the obvious.

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What isn’t so obvious is the type of outing Manoah is capable of providing for the Blue Jays when he makes his return to the mound at Rogers Centre on Tuesday night for the for the first time since that fateful, regrettable outing last month when Houston came to town.

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Once all the dust settled from Manoah’s June 5 start, the Jays sent him out of town to the team’s pitching lab in Florida.

The big fella lost some weight, ironed out some mental and mechanical flaws. That allowed Manoah to return to the big leagues on July 7, when he started in Detroit.

All things considered, his outing against the Tigers could not have gone much better.

The swagger, the smile, not to mention production, resurfaced at Comerica Park.

No walks were yielded and, when trouble began to percolate in the third inning, Manoah limited the damage as the Tigers only were able to score one run.

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When the faces the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, Manoah will not and must not be viewed anything approaching a staff ace. Instead, his current lot in the rotation can be best described as the fifth starter.

The road back for Manoah is far from complete. He’ll be excited to start in front of home fans for the first time since the same fans booed Manoah when he recorded only one out in the first inning against the Astros.

No one is expecting Manoah to go six innings. If he could go five innings and limit the number of free passes issued, then another hurdle will be cleared.

This isn’t opening day, neither is it a post-season wild-card start or even getting the ball in an all-star game, but it is big nonetheless for Manoah and for the Blue Jays.

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The Jays didn’t have all-star closer Jordan Romano (back) available during the Arizona series and won’t have ace Kevin Gausman (left side soreness) until the team heads to Seattle this weekend, assuming he is cleared.

Hyun-Jin Ryu continues to make progress at triple-A Buffalo following Tommy John surgery. His trajectory does look promising and the crafty lefty could very well return to the Blue Jays sooner rather than later.

Ryu will be a free agent this winter with teams closely monitoring how the former Cy Young Award candidate performs.

Arizona came to town in a virtual tie with the L.A. Dodgers in the NL West, but its play in Toronto was not good. The Jays swept the Diamondbacks to move a season-high 12 games above the .500 mark.

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On paper, the Padres should be much better, but their record is awful, providing the Blue Jays with another opportunity to keep the good times going, which has seen Toronto win eight of its past nine games.

All of the sudden, winning the AL East is no longer out of reach.

The wild card can be found in Manoah if the Blue Jays want to contend for a division title and not simply be content to compete for a wild-card spot. How he performs Tuesday will also give the Blue Jays another sample size as they gear up for baseball’s trade deadline.

While it’s true teams can never have enough pitching, a fully engaged and productive Manoah coupled with the likelihood of Ryu returning provides the Blue Jays with options.

Erik Swanson is being used too much, but the righty has performed well out of the pen. When Mitch White walked three in the ninth Sunday, the Jays needed to use Swanson to seal Toronto’s 7-5 win.

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The team has managed to work around Gausman’s absence and having Manoah back can’t be overstated. Getting a quality start out of the third-year pro is the goal.

Heading into Tuesday’s start, no one knows how close Manoah is in reaching that target. When he faced the Tigers, Manoah threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of 23 hitters, a career-high.

His pace down the mound was much improved, one of the areas the Blue Jays honed in on when Manoah was sent down. He allowed just one run on five hits in six innings while striking out eight, a season-high. Granted, Manoah did pitch against the struggling Tigers.

The Padres will send RHP Joe Musgrove (8-2, 3.29 ERA) to the mound Tuesday and San Diego comes to town after losing three straight in Philadelphia to drop to 44-50 on the season, fourth in the NL West.

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Jose Berrios is Toronto’s scheduled starter Wednesday followed by Chris Bassitt in the series finale. Depending on how the immediate future plays out for both Manoah and Ryu, expect Yusei Kikuchi’s role to change. Some made far too much of his exit Sunday and how he reacted to getting the hook.

Truth be told, the Blue Jays made the right move because they weren’t going to allow Kikuchi to pitch the third time through the order. Like any competitor, Kikuchi did not like the decision. It would have made for an actual story had he not expressed his displeasure.

Now the question of gow much rope the Blue Jays give Manoah on Tuesday night remains to be seen.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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