Blue Jays' John Schneider: 'I f***** up' with mound visit blunder

When it rains, it pours.

The Toronto Blue Jays suffered their fifth loss in their last six games on Saturday, falling 6-5 to the Baltimore Orioles in 10 innings at Rogers Centre.

While the Jays' bullpen squandering a 5-2 lead may be the biggest takeaway from Saturday's collapse, the highlight — or lowlight — of the game came courtesy of Toronto skipper John Schneider.

With starter Alek Manoah putting together a relatively strong outing into the sixth inning, Schneider trotted out to the mound to talk strategy with his ace. However, Schneider had forgotten that pitching coach Pete Walkwe had already made a mound visit in the inning, and since MLB rules state that a second mound visit in an inning must accompany a pitching change, the Jays manager had no choice but to pull Manoah out of the game.

A bewildered and disappointed Manoah handed over the ball before walking over to the home dugout, shaking his head and muttering in disbelief.

Speaking to reporters post-game, Schneider took full responsibility for the error.

"I f***** up," the 43-year-old admitted. "But I think, regardless of my f***-up, it was the right time to get him out."

Manoah told the media that he felt something was off with the mound visit, but was left confused by the sequence.

“There was just some silence. I had known Pete had come out there. When he started asking me if I wanted to stay in the game, I was like, ‘Well maybe Pete didn’t come out here?’ I wasn’t sure."

The Blue Jays looked poised to emerge victorious from the afternoon matchup when they jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning, courtesy of a pair of RBI singles from George Springer and Alejandro Kirk.

But the Orioles would storm back just an inning later, with infielder Ryan O'Hearn launching a three-run home run off Jordan Romano to tie things up. Austin Hayes reached home plate off a fielder's choice that struck him in the back to score the winning run in the 10th inning.