WASHINGTON — Alek Manoah has had a lot of time to sit around and think about all the things that didn’t go his way in 2023.

The 19 starts he made that produced a 5.87 ERA only months after he was a finalist for the 2022 American League Cy Young award. The nagging physical issues he carried through the season that got worse with each outing. The diminished fastball velocity and slider movement; the out-of-sync delivery and release point he couldn’t find; the control and command that oftentimes eluded him.

It’s why he’s so grateful for Sunday, when he’ll be activated from the injured list by the Toronto Blue Jays to make his first MLB appearance in nine months. Finally, an opportunity to start putting the pieces back together. Finally, he can let it all go.

“Sometimes, when you’re rehabbing, you think so much about your body feeling good. And when you’re struggling, you spend so much time trying to control little things,” Manoah said Saturday following a throwing session at Nationals Park. “But I’ve finally got to a point where I feel really great and my mechanics are in a good spot. Now, it’s just about going out there and competing and playing baseball.

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“Not worrying about a stat sheet, not worrying about slider shape, not worrying about fastball velocity. Just going out there, letting everything flow, and getting outs.”

Manoah has taken a long road to get to this point, preparing once again to take a big-league mound. His last time on one did not go well, as Manoah was touched up by the Cleveland Guardians in August for four runs over four-plus innings. It took him 93 pitches to record a dozen outs. The day following, he was optioned to the minors for the second time in 2023.

That began a mysterious period in which Manoah visited a series of specialists for testing and imaging of various physical issues, while Blue Jays management offered only vague, sporadic updates when asked about his status. In early September, he was placed on the temporarily inactive list to open a spot on the Buffalo Bisons roster. And as the triple-A schedule whittled with no sign of Manoah on a mound, it became clear his season was over.

Amidst swirling trade rumours and speculation about his relationship with the Blue Jays organization, Manoah spent the winter training in Miami with his brother, Erik, while forming better dietary habits with the help of his wife, Marielena, who is a certified nutritionist. This spring, Manoah reported to Blue Jays camp carrying a noticeably leaner body composition, determined to sort out his mechanics and command.

He was positioned to open the season as Toronto’s fifth starter, but a shoulder issue derailed his progress in late February and forced him to restart his throwing progression two weeks later. To call the setback a test of his patience would be putting it mildly.

“I’m a bulldog, man. I like to be out there competing,” he said. “When I’m not competing, it sucks. It really, really sucks.”

Opening the season on the major-league injured list, Manoah began a rehab assignment with a rocky outing for single-A Dunedin, followed by inconsistent results over a trio of starts after moving up to triple-A Buffalo. But in his fifth and final rehab appearance on Tuesday, Manoah put it all together, demonstrating his best form since that Cy Young contending campaign in 2022.

While throwing 62 of his 92 pitches for strikes, Manoah allowed just two hits, two walks, and a run (on a solo shot) over six innings against a lineup featuring recent big-leaguers Ji Hwan Bae, Nick Gonzales, Yasmani Grandal, and Jake Lamb. Manoah struck out a dozen and got five of his six other outs on the ground; he allowed only two balls in play with an exit velocity over 92-mph (the homer and a routine ground-out to third); he pitched with palpable conviction and confidence.

“When we’re talking about what we wanted to see from Alek, it was that,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “Being effective and efficient. His stuff is in a good spot. He pitched really well. And it was a pretty decent lineup he was going against, too.”

Manoah also showed off substantial adjustments he’s been quietly working on since we last saw him on a big-league mound. Start with the slider, which Manoah used to get 13 of his 19 swinging strikes on Tuesday. Last season, it was essentially a sweeper — cutting horizontally out of his hand while featuring around 41 inches of vertical drop. But the sliders he was throwing Tuesday averaged 44 inches of vertical break and reached as high as 49 at times. This was no longer a sweeper — it was a downward-biting slurve.

That change in shape is intentional. After spending 2023 coming up empty in his search for the inches of horizontal movement he’d lost off the pitch from a year prior, Manoah has opted to chase vertical action instead.

“I think it plays better to both righties and lefties. Probably less room for damage against that kind of pitch,” Schneider said. “I think last year he didn’t have a feel for it — and it showed. But I like the action on it. When he’s been really good, that’s what it’s been. More down than across.”

Manoah has also renewed his intent of ripping the pitch with purpose, trying to make it look like a fastball for 55 feet before it falls out of the zone, rather than trying to guide it across the plate as he was in 2023. Tuesday, he was regularly doubling and tripling up on it, throwing it five times consecutively on two occasions. At one point, he struck out Grandal on three pitches — all sliders the former White Sox catcher whiffed over.

“It’s all in the way you throw it. Understanding that whether I’m throwing it for an 0-0 strike or an 0-2 strikeout, I need to attack with it,” Manoah said. “I think sometimes you can fall into a trap of making the game harder than what it is. ‘Oh, I’ve thrown one or two of them, maybe he’s sitting on it now. Let me throw a fastball here.’ When, really, if that pitch is working for me, and it’s where it is right now, it doesn’t matter the count, it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve thrown it. I have extreme confidence it’ll be tough to get to either way.”

And then there was the sinker. That was the pitch Manoah was using for his called strikes on Tuesday, earning 13 of them. Combine that with five whiffs and the pitch ran a 55 per cent called-strike-plus whiff rate. Anything above 35 per cent is considered elite. Manoah was locating the pitch both arm- and glove-side to righties and driving it in to the front-hip of lefties. Most importantly, he was keeping it to the edges and away from the heart of the plate:

That’s much better command than Manoah had shown in earlier rehab outings, and a slight mechanical adjustment to lower his hands from his jaw to his torso as he begins his delivery may have had something to do with it.

Lowering the hands in a pitcher’s delivery is something Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker has advised to many of his pitchers, from Yusei Kikuchi to Yimi Garcia and all the way back to JA Happ. For starters, it simplifies the delivery and quiets moving parts, creating a more direct path for a pitcher to consistently find his release point. It also helps shield the pitcher’s hand as they manipulate the ball in their glove, lessening the possibility of pitch-tipping, which was a concern with Manoah in 2023.

Manoah first adopted a slide step and started throwing with his hands up near his head in college because it helped him free up space for separation between his hip and shoulder. But, ironically, Manoah and the Blue Jays’ current theory is that the arm action was actually contributing to some of the shoulder issues he battled last season and this spring.

“And what was really crippling me was that it created trouble for me getting to the same release point. My arm was getting long, which can cause some of the shoulder stuff that I was dealing with,” Manoah said. “I feel like the hands being lower allows me to simplify things and get into that same arm pattern, same arm release point, a lot easier. It’s something that just clicked for me.”

Of course, it also helps that Manoah sat 94-m.p.h. with his fastball on Tuesday, touching 96. That’s a considerable improvement on the 92.6-mph Manoah averaged on his sinker last season and matches where his velocity sat during 2022. The physical strides Manoah made over the winter underlie all of these improvements — from the arm path, to the durability, to the revived nastiness of his pitches.

“It’s pretty simple — stuff and delivery. That’s kind of what his downfall was last year. Whether it was velo, slider, delivery not being in sync,” Schneider said. “When that’s all there, his stuff plays in the zone. And where his stuff is right now is better than where it was at the end of ’22 when he was getting a lot of big outs in the zone. That’s what’s been encouraging. As long as it’s there in the zone consistently, he’s going to have a pretty good chance.”

So, that’s what Manaoh will take with him into Sunday, when he finally returns to MLB competition. It’s been a long nine months of stops and starts, searches and setbacks. But lately, Manoah has found something that’s working; something that feels repeatable, natural, like he can be himself again. Something that’s allowing him to take the mound and let everything else go.

“There’s a lot of stuff that I’ve learned through this whole process that I feel like has sharpened the toolbox for the future. There’s been a lot of growth,” Manoah said. “God has taken me through some really high mountains and some really deep valleys. And I feel like he talks to you even louder when you’re down there. So, right now, I’m better able to understand my purpose and that, no matter what happens on the field, I need to just continue to follow this path. And stay strong through whatever comes.”

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DENVER — Minnesota coach Chris Finch was in the second row of the bench when the Timberwolves opened their second-round series at Denver on Saturday after having knee surgery this week.

Although Finch was present, assistant coach Micah Nori roamed the Wolves’ sideline, instructing the players and calling the timeouts against the reigning champion Nuggets.

Finch used crutches to attend his pregame news conference, where he said he and his knee felt “pretty good, all things considered.”

Finch had his ruptured right patellar tendon repaired Wednesday after a sideline collision with Mike Conley late in the Game 4 win at Phoenix that gave the Timberwolves a series sweep in Round 1.

The thought was Finch would watch the action in a suite if there wasn’t enough space for him on the sideline to safely extend his leg. But the Wolves configured their seats to allow him to be close by. His knee was guarded by the end of the scorer’s table. There was an empty chair next to him.

“I’ll be on the bench but the game interaction and the game flow will be largely run by Micah,” Finch explained. “Obviously, I’m not in a position to be able to get up, call timeouts, interact with the players, that kind of stuff. Being right there with the coaches and with the players in the huddle, that stuff will be the same.”

Finch installed Minnesota’s game plan for the Nuggets before undergoing surgery.

These teams know each other well, with front-office executive Tim Connelly helping build the Nuggets before leaving in 2022 for a similar job with Minnesota. Finch and Nori were once on the staff of Nuggets coach Michael Malone, as well. Timberwolves guard Monte Morris was drafted by Denver in 2017 and spent five seasons with the Nuggets, while Denver assistant Ryan Saunders served as the head coach of the Timberwolves over parts of three seasons.

“I guess it’s cool, doesn’t really matter to me,” Malone said of the familiarity between the teams. “Whether it’s people we know or don’t know, once that jump ball goes up, they’re in our way, and we’re in their way.

“Chris Finch, who I believe is going to be — I can’t wait to see this — on the sideline in some capacity tonight, he was on my staff briefly. … Yes, there’s a lot of guys (with connections) but all that goes out the window when the jump ball goes up, man. This is about competition at its highest form.”

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WASHINGTON — There were tactical reasons for Saturday’s Blue Jays batting order shuffle, which pushed Bo Bichette down to fifth and bumped Daulton Varsho up to the two-hole.

Getting a left-handed hitter like Varsho up high against Washington Nationals starter Jake Irvin, who’d held righties to a .650 OPS and .288 wOBA throughout his 30-start career, made sense. With Varsho having hit 62 of his 67 career homers against right-handed pitching, and the Blue Jays starved of big swings lately, why not move him up there to potentially take three shots at Irvin?

Also, the Nationals aren’t carrying a left-hander in their bullpen, meaning Blue Jays manager John Schneider didn’t need to worry about them targeting a pocket of lefties — four out of six hitters from Daniel Vogelbach in the sixth spot through Varsho up top — late in the game.

But there were vibes reasons, too. Baseball’s such a relentless, monotonous grind — it’s easy, and often good, to fall into an auto-pilot routine day after day. But when you’re in a team-wide offensive funk as the Blue Jays have been, inertia becomes a real thing. That consistent rhythm can work against you.

“We’re such creatures of habit,” Schneider said before Saturday’s game. “Varsh knowing he’s going to hit in the first inning is just a little bit of a different feel for him. Bo, too, not knowing if he’s going to hit in the first inning or not. It’s just a little bit of a different feel, really.

“There is thought, there is rhyme and reason to it. But I think sometimes just seeing your name in a different spot can be a good thing.”

It would be a logical leap to say that’s why the Blue Jays won, 6-3, evening a series with the Washington Nationals. That had a lot more to do with Washington’s infielders haphazardly launching balls around the diamond and committing two errors in the first inning, as the Blue Jays cashed four early, unearned runs. But as Schneider alluded, sometimes feel matters.

An extended, 112-pitch Kevin Gausman start mattered, too. After the Blue Jays bullpen melted down a night prior, and with Yimi Garcia unavailable again due to lower back discomfort, Schneider needed innings from the workhorse right-hander. And Gausman got as deep as he could against an opposition working a pesky-yet-patient approach, holding the Nationals to no runs on three hits and two walks over 5.1 innings while striking out eight.

“I went into this game knowing that I was going to need to go deep and that they might push me a little bit,” Gausman said. “I would have liked to have gone seven today, for sure. But to get into the sixth was important.”

Evidently, Washington’s gameplan against Gausman was to wait him out, swinging at only six of the 25 pitches he threw in the first, and eight of 19 in the second. But something changed in the third, as the Nationals began their second trip through the order and started hunting fastballs more aggressively. That let Gausman get his splitter going when he was tunnelling it effectively, leading to him racking up 11 of his 14 whiffs in his final 3.1 innings.

“I was pretty sporadic to start the game. I think they saw me missing by a couple feet and honed in on, ‘Hey, let’s try to really make him throw strikes,’” Gausman said. “I felt like every split we threw early in the count, unless it was a called strike, they were spitting at it. And I need my split to carry the zone. So, I just told [catcher Danny Jansen,] ‘Hey, I’m going to try to carry the zone a little bit more with it. So, just keep calling it and we’ll get there.’ And you could see as the game went on, they started swinging a little bit more at it.”

After the Nationals finally accomplished their goal and drove Gausman from the game with one out and one on in the sixth, Brendan Little took over and struck out two — a righty and a lefty — to get the lead to the seventh.

That’s when things got hairy, as the Nationals loaded the bases against Little and Nate Pearson for CJ Abrams, who smoked a ball 393 feet to right-centre that sounded like a homer off the bat but fell into Kevin Kiermaier’s glove at the wall for a sacrifice fly.

Two pitches later, Nick Senzel served a run-scoring single into centre and drove Pearson from the game. But Tim Mayza put out that fire, and Kiermaier — activated off the IL earlier in the day — recovered the ground Toronto’s bullpen ceded in the eighth with a first-pitch, two-run shot off Derek Law, who was facing his ninth batter of a relief appearance.

“Huge at-bat from Kev there in the eighth with a home run,” Schneider said. “Nice to add on there at the end.”

Trevor Richards worked around an error and wild pitch in the eighth, turning things over to Jordan Romano, who allowed a run in an eventful ninth but ultimately found a way to carry the Blue Jays across the finish line. As was the case Friday, Toronto’s disordered bullpen bent — but this time it did not break.

“We’re asking some guys to get some big outs. Perfect example is Little today coming in and getting the outs he did,” Schneider said. “Guys are grinding. I thought Timmy did a great job coming in and killing that inning. And Jordy was pitching today no matter what. So, I think getting enough outs today was the key.”

On the other side of the ball, the Nationals appeared committed to helping the Blue Jays out of their offensive rut. The top of the first started with Senzel committing a two-base throwing error on George Springer’s leadoff groundball before Irvin walked Varsho on five pitches. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with what should have been a routine double play, Luis Garcia Jr. airmailed his throw to first, getting only the one out at second.

A pair of singles from Justin Turner and Bichette later, Vogelbach grounded into what should have been an inning-ending double play, but the Nationals ham-fisted it once again as Trey Lipscomb chucked a throw intended for second into left field. Danny Jansen followed with a double and suddenly the Blue Jays had put four unearned runs on Irvin’s line.

Hey, the way things have been going, these Blue Jays will take all the extra outs they can get. Especially as old habits refused to die from that point on.

In the second inning, Toronto put runners on first and second with none out for Guerrero and Turner, who each hit double-play grounders — the second of which the Nationals finally managed to turn successfully. In the third, three Blue Jays grounded out while seeing only 11 combined pitches.

In the fourth, Springer reached with two outs on yet another Washington error. But Varsho, in his third look against Irvin, flew out reaching for a full-count sinker away.

In the fifth, the Blue Jays went three-up, three-down and lost their shortstop in the process, as Bichette slammed his helmet after getting rung up on a borderline, full-count strike and was ejected by home plate umpire Jonathan Parra.

In the sixth, Jansen’s one-out walk was stranded with a couple strikeouts by Cavan Biggio and Kiermaier at the bottom of the order. In the seventh, runners reached second and third with one out but remained there thanks again to a pair of strikeouts, this time from Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa — he entered for Bichette — in the heart of the order.

This, of course, gets at a much more important issue for the Blue Jays than who’s hitting where — getting to gettable pitchers such as Irvin and not letting them off hooks. Remember, we’re talking about a lineup that was contained Friday by Patrick Corbin, whose 5.81 ERA since the beginning of 2021 is the highest of 108 qualified starters over that span.

And it didn’t have to be that way — the Blue Jays got off to an early, three-run lead against Corbin, pushing him to the ropes. But then, suddenly, momentum ground to a halt and the Blue Jays didn’t score another run over the final seven innings. Toronto had only one hit after the fourth and nine of its final 17 plate appearances lasted three pitches or less.

“I think that we took our foot off the gas a little bit,” Schneider said of Friday’s loss. “The at-bats with a three-run lead have to be just as urgent and locked in as a three-run deficit or a one-run whatever it is. You’ve got to keep going with what you’re doing.

“It’s not being passive by any means. It’s really focusing on getting a good swing off on a pitch you can handle. And if it’s not there, just wait for the next pitch, wait for the next pitch. I thought we were a little bit quick in those middle innings with our at-bats.”

Toronto’s middle-inning at-bats Saturday were at least more grinding, as they forced Irvin to throw 26 pitches in the fourth and 20 in the fifth. But the result was the same — a crooked number on the board against a shaky starter early followed by a succession of scoreless innings. Getting smothered by Cole Ragans and Tyler Glasnow is one thing; letting Corbin and Irvin do it is another.

“Yeah, when you score four in the first, you want to try to keep going. And today it didn’t happen,” Schneider said. “It’s a work in progress. It was eerily similar there for a little bit until KK’s homer. But, yeah, you want to try to keep forcing that pitch count to get up and having good at-bats as a starter goes.”

Still, a win’s a win. And although it’s more correlation than causation, the batting order shuffle preceded a positive result.

Schneider’s done feel-based stuff like this in the past as a minor-league manager. When he sensed his team needed its rhythm interrupted, he’d take his worst-performing hitter and bat them leadoff to get them engaged in a game early and potentially force them out of their funk. Of course, it’s a lot easier to do stuff like that with teenage prospects than it is with millionaire big-leaguers.

That’s why Schneider had a talk with Bichette on Friday night, informing the slumping shortstop he’d be dropping in Sunday’s lineup. Bichette has been vocal about his desire for a consistent batting order position in the past. But the Blue Jays reached a point where they had to try something new to break the offensive stagnation that was threatening to sabotage their season. 

“Everyone gets it. It’s not about one guy. It’s not about Bo or Vlad or George or Jano. It’s about us,” Schneider said. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for us. It’s not set in stone. It’s not, ‘OK, this is how we’re going to roll out for the rest of the season.’ I think having the ability to change it is part of my job — part of us collectively as a staff, too.”

To that end, don’t be surprised to see the Blue Jays revert to a more familiar lineup on Sunday when they face left-hander MacKenzie Gore. Putting Varsho and his .664 career OPS against lefties up top against Gore would be malpractice. But maybe now that the band-aid’s been ripped off, the righties at the top of the order can be shuffled around further. After all, the Blue Jays had conversations about batting Jansen second on Saturday before settling on Varsho.

We’ll see. Ultimately, tactical judgment ought to be prioritized. But, for a day at least, the Blue Jays went with what felt right, what felt necessary. And found the outcome they were looking for.

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The UFC’s stacked lightweight division is rarely if ever lacking in rising contenders and a new name was added to the list at UFC 301.

Brazil’s Mauricio Ruffy made a statement in his impressive debut during the preliminary card at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, finishing Jamie Mullarkey via technical knockout in the opening round of their 155-pound bout.

Ruffy was roughly a two-to-one favourite entering Saturday’s event and it showed early with the fighter’s impressive ability to control the distance with his footwork and head movement against his seasoned opponent.

The UFC rookie ended up landing landed 25 of his 40 significant strike attempts for a solid 62 per cent connection rate and only absorbed seven significant head strikes himself.

“When I look at him now, I’m making a comparison to a young Conor McGregor the way he is piecing this guy up, the way he is so accurate and his instincts, reminds of a young Conor,” UFC commentator Din Thomas said on the broadcast.

One of the strikes Ruffy landed during the finishing sequence was a flying knee, and he even tripped Mullarkey to the canvas briefly with a nifty scissor sweep.

Count UFC president Dana White among those impressed.

Daniel Cormier described the performance as a “flawless victory,” before adding during the post-fight interview: “That was one of the greatest UFC debuts that we’ve seen in a really long time.”

The 30-year-old replied by confidently agreeing “the hype is real.”

Not only did Ruffy appear to have advanced striking offence and defence in his Octagon debut — just like the Irish superstar did in 2013 when he earned a 67-second TKO win over Marcus Brimage — but he also showed off a similar high-ceiling confidence.

“I have a nice message for (current lightweight champion) Islam Makhachev. Enjoy your days at the top. I know you’re upset because I beat your friend, but enjoy your days because the new king is coming,” Ruffy said through an interpreter.

This was a reference to his third-round TKO victory over Raimond Magomedaliev on the Contender Series this past October. 

After a debut performance like that, Ruffy will likely earn himself a main card placement in next outing.

How quickly Ruffy rises up the rankings will depend on whether or not he can perform like that regularly and eventually against ranked contenders.

Keep in mind, McGregor was only 24 when he debuted in the UFC and fought a young Max Holloway in his second UFC appearance, plus in his fourth fight knocked out a featherweight Dustin Poirier.

Ruffy is 10-1 in mixed martial arts with all 10 victories by KO/TKO and that 100 per cent finishing rate is no joke.

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DENVER — Anthony Edwards’ decision-making was as spot-on as his shot-making.

When he drew a crowd, he passed. When he was open, he shot — and usually swished.

Edwards scored a playoff career-high 43 points, Naz Reid had 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets 106-99 in Game 1 of the second-round series Saturday night.

Edwards was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 25 points, and Reid took over in the fourth quarter. Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 points despite dealing with foul trouble. The Timberwolves shot a blistering 71.1 per cent from the floor in the second half.

“The whole team, we trust each other,” said Edwards, who was 17 of 29 from the floor. “It doesn’t matter down the stretch who takes the shot.”

All part of Edwards’ evolution on the court.

“I’m proud of the way he’s accepted the kind of growth he needed to have to be where he is,” said Conley, who finished with 14 points and 10 assists. “It’s not easy for a 22-, 23-year-old to make that adjustment so quickly.”

“Twenty-two,” Edwards playfully chimed in.

Game 2 is Monday night in Denver.

Three days after undergoing knee surgery, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was on the bench in the second row, next to the scorer’s table and behind assistant coach Micah Nori, who did the instructing, roaming and switching. Finch ruptured the patellar tendon in his right knee last week when Wolves point guard Mike Conley collided with him late in Minnesota’s Round 1 clincher at Phoenix.

“All the plays we scored on were my calls and the ones that we didn’t were his,” cracked Nori. “(Finch) was great. He was like, ‘We don’t want to make it clunky,’ is the term he used. We did a good job of that.”

Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 32 points, eight rebounds and nine assists for Denver, but also had seven turnovers. Jamal Murray scored 17 points after being held scoreless in the first half. Murray, the hero for the Nuggets in Round 1 with a pair of game-winners that allowed Denver to eliminate the Lakers in five games, finished 6 of 14 from the floor.

“We need to do a better job of making them make tough shots, maybe make the extra pass,” Jokic said.

Tied at 84, the Timberwolves went on an 18-7 run to break it open. Reid had 10 straight points for the Timberwolves at one point during the pivotal stretch. Reid was the beneficiary of the Nuggets making sure Edwards was constantly covered.

“When (Edwards) draws three people, he makes the right play all the time,” Reid said. “I’ve seen him grow from Day 1 to where he is — a superstar in the making, if he’s not now.”

Last year, the Wolves were a tough first-round opponent for Denver despite being without Reid (broken wrist) and Jaden McDaniels (broken hand) and with Towns coming off a severe calf strain that had cost him 52 games. This time, not a single Timberwolves player was listed on the injury report.

“Going against the best player in the world is always fun,” Edwards said about facing Jokic. “Going against the best team in the world is always fun.”

Aside from being healthier, the Timberwolves were much better thanks to the dramatic improvement in Edwards’ game, Denver coach Michael Malone suggested.

“There’s no weaknesses in his game,” Malone said. “And it’s going to be a hell of a challenge trying to slow him down.”

Especially when he has so much help.

“Naz Reid got going. Karl-Anthony Towns got going. Mike Conley got going — where Anthony Edwards carried the day in that first half,” Malone said. “But the second half I just felt not nearly enough discipline and physicality and they were able to get whatever they wanted.”

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TORONTO — The curse, as coach John Herdman put it, is over. And Toronto FC’s winning streak continues.

Italian star Federico Bernardeschi ended a lengthy scoreless drought with a pair of goals and added an assist Saturday to help Toronto defeat FC Dallas 3-1 in MLS play, extending TFC’s string of wins to four games in all competitions.

Bernardeschi had been shut out in 19 games since scoring twice in a 3-2 loss to CF Montreal on Aug. 20. 

“The curse is broken,” a smiling Herdman said after the game.

Bernardeschi, a stylish attacker who has played a variety of roles this season, has been an influential figure for TFC. And the former Juventus man was a threat all night Saturday before an announced crowd of 24,257 at BMO Field.

But goals seemed to still be eluding him.

Bernardeschi appeared to have changed that in the 39th minute when, receiving the ball from Jonathan Osorio just inside the penalty box, he pivoted and sent a low shot past Dutch-born goalkeeper Maarten Paes.

But the Italian’s celebration was short-lived as referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere, after being summoned to the pitch-side monitor by the video assistant referee, waved the goal off for offside.

Bernardeschi got a second bite at the apple in first-half stoppage time when Lauziere pointed to the penalty spot after Osorio went down in a challenge from Patrickson Delgado, who had seemed to get the ball.

The penalty call survived video review with Bernardeschi standing over the ball, waiting to take the spot kick. Paes made the save but could not get to the rebound and the Italian knocked it home.

“We had a chuckle at halftime,” said Herdman. “I think that curse that was on him was lifted. And it showed in the second half.” 

There was no mistake with Bernardeschi’s second goal, a highlight-reel banger in the 52nd minute that saw the Italian cut to his left and hammer a shot into the top corner from outside the penalty box.

Bernardeschi did not speak to the media after the match.

Substitute Matty Longstaff added an insurance goal in the 83rd minute, his first in MLS, with an assist from Bernardeschi and Tyrese Spicer. Longstaff’s older brother, Sean, scored for Newcastle United earlier in the day in a 4-1 win over Burnley in English Premier League play.

Herdman, who grew up outside Newcastle, is a diehard fan. He says he and Matty Longstaff, who also played for Newcastle, often text each other when watching the English team.

Herdman said he sent Matty a text earlier in the day saying: “Look your bro scored, so I fancy you scoring tonight.” He also made sure the younger Longstaff got the game ball.

Sam Junqua scored a consolation goal for Dallas in the 87th minute.

The win moved Toronto (6-4-1) up one spot to third in the Eastern Conference. With 19 points, it is just three off TFCs entire total last season, when it finished last in the league at 4-20-10.

Dallas (2-6-2) was outshot 13-6 (6-2 in shots on target) in its first trip to BMO Field since 2018.

The Texas side arrived on the back of a 2-0 win over Houston which ended a seven-game winless run that followed a 2-1 win over San Jose in the Feb. 24 season opener. 

It marked the first meeting between the two teams since February 2022 when they drew 1-1 in Frisco, Texas. Toronto had not beaten Dallas since a 1-0 decision in July 2016 at BMO Field, going 0-3-1 since against the Texans.

Herdman made two changes to his starting 11, giving newly acquired winger Derrick Etienne Jr. his first start and Spicer.

The club had no comment on a report that it has reached a mutual agreement with Canadian forward Ayo Akinola to terminate his contract. But such a move would not come as a surprise given the 24-year-old has seen just 82 minutes of playing time in the league this season spread over five appearances.

Akinola, whose contract runs through 2023 with an option for 2025, made US$771,875 last season.

Canadian international midfielder Liam Fraser, a former Toronto homegrown player, started for Dallas with former TFC defender Omar Gonzalez on the bench.

Toronto was forced to withdraw Raoul Petretta in the 16th minute after a nasty tackle from Croatian forward Peter Musa.

Both teams were missing players through injuries.

Toronto was without Lorenzo Insigne, Richie Laryea, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Shane O’Neill and Brandon Servania. The club signed TFC 2 forward Jesús Batiz to an MLS short-term agreement for the game for some insurance.

Dallas was missing Geovane Jesus, Amet Korca, Sebastian Lletget, Paxton Pomykal and Argentine designated player Alan Velasco.

Toronto plays at CS Saint-Laurent on Wednesday in Canadian Championship quarterfinal play before hosting New York City FC on Saturday. Dallas entertains USL Championship side Memphis 901 FC in U.S. Open Cup round-of-32 play Tuesday.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi had a record-setting night for Inter Miami.

He scored a goal and had five assists as Inter Miami trounced the New York Red Bulls 6-2 on Saturday night — with the Argentine great and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as the game’s best player setting no fewer than three Major League Soccer records in the effort.

The six goal contributions, one goal and five assists in a half were all MLS records.

Messi, who earned the MLS Player of the Month Award for April, has now scored and assisted in six consecutive league matches.

Luis Suárez had three goals and Matias Rojas scored twice as Inter Miami got six unanswered goals to come back from a 1-0 deficit at halftime. Messi and Suárez now have a league-leading 10 goals each, helping keep Inter Miami (7-2-3, 24 points) atop the Eastern Conference.

The win extended Miami’s unbeaten string to six. The streak began after a 4-0 loss at New York on April 20, in which Messi did not play because of an injury.

Miami began the rout with Rojas’ equalizer in the 48th minute. Messi centered a pass to Rojas whose left-footed shot landed under the crossbar.

Suárez then fed a charging Messi with a touch pass to beat New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel with a shot from 15 yards.

Rojas made it 3-1 with his second goal in the 62nd minute on an assist from Messi.

Messi then contributed on former Barcelona teammate Suárez’s first goal in the 69th minute.

Suárez also struck in the 75th and 81st minutes before the Red Bulls (4-2-5, 17 points) closed the scoring on Emil Forsberg’s penalty kick in stoppage time.

New York controlled possession early and eventually capitalized on a Miami defensive breakdown that resulted in Dante Vanzeir’s goal in the 30th minute. José Carmona ran deep into the right wing of the large area and blasted a shot that bounced off the far post. An unmarked Vanzeir retrieved the deflection and converted from 15 yards.

Messi had his only scoring opportunity of the first half in the 24th minute, when Coronel stopped his shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Jordi Alba missed his third straight game because of a hamstring injury.

Both clubs will continue MLS play next Saturday. Inter Miami will visit CF Montreal while the Red Bulls will host New England.

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