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The former Cy Young candidate looked as good as ever on Sunday as he limited the Tampa Bay Rays to one hit across seven scoreless innings in a 5-2 victory at Rogers Centre. Manoah struck out seven and walked just one while Daniel Vogelbach chipped in with a solo homer as part of a three-hit day.

“AL East opponent, we didn’t want nobody coming into our house and sweeping us,” Manoah said after the Jays snapped a three-game losing streak. “The biggest thing was going out there, setting the tone, getting a big win and get this thing rolling.”

Manoah will have to keep pitching like this for awhile before he can be deemed all the way back, but his last two outings have been extremely encouraging for an organization that hasn’t had much to cheer about lately. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in either of his last two starts while displaying the mid-90s velocity that went missing through much of 2023.

There were times last season when it was fair to question whether this version of Manoah would ever return. His mechanics fell apart as he posted a 5.87 ERA over 19 outings last year. He walked 6.1 batters per nine innings and surrendered 15 homers in 87 1/3 innings.

The performance was so bad, and led to so much frustration, that when the Jays optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo in mid-August, he refused to show up. A disagreement over an alleged shoulder injury caused friction within the organization and eventually led to Manoah being given the rest of the year off.

That could have signalled the end of Manoah’s meaningful tenure with the Jays. After there was another shoulder injury this spring, a rebound from Manoah appeared even more unlikely. Yet here we are in the middle of May and, while the Jays are struggling, Manoah is rounding back into the form that made him one of the most valuable members of the staff. He is averaging a career-high 94.0 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball while experiencing a similar bump on his wipeout slider.

Velocity isn’t everything, but it helps. What’s even more effective is proper command, and Manoah has been controlling most of his pitches lately. After losing the zone in his season debut, Manoah has walked just two batters over his last 14 innings.

“He looked great again today,” Jays manager John Schneider said of Manoah, who completed seven innings in back-to-back starts for the first time since early September 2022. “I just love the way he is attacking the zone … His last outing versus Minnesota and today, this is probably the best he has looked even going back to 2022.”

The Jays didn’t need much offence to support Manoah on Sunday. Vogelbach opened the scoring in the second with a solo homer and he sparked another rally in the fourth with a two-out double. George Springer drove him in with an RBI double as part of a two-run frame.

The Jays scored two more in the sixth on a double by Alejandro Kirk to put the game out of reach. It was the fifth time this month the Jays scored at least five runs and the first in more than a week. They are 15-2 when scoring at least five runs, but just 20-25 overall.

“There’s a ton of heart in that clubhouse,” Manoah said. “Some of the losses we’ve had have been one-run ball games. We took away a seven-run deficit a few days ago. This team is competing and, with the talent we have in there … the momentum feels like it’s shifting and it’s about keeping it there.”

The Jays have wrapped up one of their more difficult stretches of the year. They will play the next 10 games against the last-place Chicago White Sox and the struggling Detroit Tigers.

If the Jays have any hope of turning their season around, it will need to start now. They’ll require the bats to come alive for that to happen but Manoah continuing to pitch like this wouldn’t hurt either.

From the penthouse to the outhouse and back within the span of a year. It has been an eventful journey for Manoah, to say the least.