Blue Jays Nathan Lukes Responds in Best Possible Way After Royals Mistake
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Going into their series with the Kansas City Royals at home on Tuesday night, the Toronto Blue Jays were looking to stay within striking distance in the American League wild-card race. Things looked bleak heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Trailing 5-1, the Blue Jays cut the deficit to 5-3 on a two-run single from Nathan Lukes with two outs. However, he was overaggressive and was thrown out at second base while trying to stretch his single into a double to end the game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was on deck. Despite his offensive struggles at home this season, you simply can't end the game that way without giving Guerrero Jr. a chance.
The good thing about baseball is that you have little time to reflect on mistakes, and you can redeem yourself quickly. That was the case and Lukes was able to do that less than 24 hours later.
Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Addresses Nathan Lukes' Home Run Against the Royals
In a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth against Kansas City, Lukes stepped to the plate with two on against Randy Dobnak. In a true redemption moment, Lukes hit a three-run home run to right-center field for all the runs Toronto needed in a 3-0 victory to snap the Royals' nine-game winning streak. Manager John Schneider was happy to see his outfielder quickly bounce back from his mistake the night before.
“I talked to him today and, as only Lukey can, he said he was sorry,” said Schneider, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “I told him, ‘Dude, the most important game is tonight. Don’t worry about it.’ It’s pretty fitting that he had the big hit today.”
Despite the win, the Blue Jays are still three games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final AL wild-card spot. Cleveland has won seven in a row after sweeping the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels on a six-game road trip. They return home to open a weekend series with the Royals on Friday night.
Toronto will play the rubber game of their series with Kansas City before they fly to Cleveland on Thursday night. Spencer Arrighetti will get the start for the Blue Jays, who need to jump two teams, the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers, to even get to the Guardians in the standings. Lukes needed to erase the memory of how Tuesday night's game ended and he did with one swing on Wednesday night that ended up being the game-winning swing.
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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.