Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Delivers Blunt Quote After Deflating Royals Loss
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Heading into their home series against the Kansas City Royals, the Toronto Blue Jays hoped to take advantage of a schedule that put them up against teams with losing records. Falling further behind in the race for the third and final American League wild-card spot, the Blue Jays need to string wins together.
Trailing the suddenly hot Royals, 5-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, Toronto put together a rally and had the visitors right where they wanted them. Nathan Lukes delivered a two-out, two-run single to left-center. It plated Daz Cameron and Brett Bateman to cut the deficit to 5-3. It would have brought Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. to the plate as the game-tying run. The key phrase is "would have.''
Lukes rounded first and got aggressive, trying to reach second base on a run that meant nothing and was cut down on a relay from Bobby Witt Jr. to second baseman Tyler Tolbert to end the game. In a postseason run in late August, that was a less-than-ideal decision by Lukes, with Guerrero Jr. lurking on deck as the tying run. It's not what manager John Schneider wanted to see at that point in the game.
Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Addresses Nathan Lukes Base Running
Toronto needs wins and to get them, they need to play smart baseball in every aspect. They struggled over the weekend against the New York Yankees to hit with runners in scoring position. They finally got a key hit against Kansas City, but some bad baserunning with the game on the line proved costly.
"You always make a decision off the bat, then you make another when you’re rounding [first], especially when the play is in front of you,” Schneider said, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “Everything gets magnified when you’re not scoring, then you get a little over-anxious, I think, when you’re trying to make something happen.”
What makes the base-running gaffe even more magnified is that Lukes was not the tying run. Guerrero Jr. was on deck and giving him a chance to tie the game with one swing was a no-brainer. Toronto's first baseman has struggled mightily at home this season in terms of home runs, but he is a player who needs just one pitch to change that narrative. You have to give him an opportunity.
There is a time and place during a playoff race to get a little over-anxious; that was not the time for Lukes. Staying at first base and allowing one of your better power hitters to tie the game. Before the game, the Blue Jays placed pitcher Shane Bieber on the injured list, creating another issue going into September. Still, if Toronto continues to run the bases as they did on Tuesday night against the Royals, it may not matter who is and isn't on the injured list as they slowly fall out of contention.
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Scott Roche has covered both college and professional sports for nearly three decades for various outlets. Scott has covered the MLB, NHL, and college sports and he is someone always looking for a good rumor, no matter which sport it is.