MINNEAPOLIS — Nathan Lukes’ Friday began with him arriving at the team hotel only to discover that his room was not ready yet. It ended with the Toronto Blue Jays’ left fielder making two spectacular catches in his return to the big leagues.
Lukes was recalled from triple-A on Friday afternoon when the Blue Jays optioned outfielder Steward Berroa to Buffalo. And though his club dropped a 2-0 game to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, it was no doubt a memorable evening for Lukes, whose grind of a season has now culminated in him playing in his first major-league contest since September of last year.
In the bottom of the second inning, Lukes made a nice jumping catch at the warning track on a Matt Wallner fly ball that seemed to keep travelling. In the fifth frame, though, he managed to top that.
Jose Miranda doubled off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman to open the inning and was immediately cashed in by Carlos Santana’s single to right field. That opened the scoring and the home side continued to apply pressure by putting runners on second and third for Willi Castro, who sent a drive to deep left field.
Lukes gave chase to it, covering a significant amount of ground, before leaping to make an impressive catch and crashing into the wall. The runner at third tagged up and scored, but Lukes’ grab definitively saved a run. It also endeared him to his new teammates.
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It was hard to ignore that Friday marked the Blue Jays’ first visit to Target Field since October of last year. Sure, the roster was drastically different back then but the return carries significance, of course, because it was a vivid reminder of when the Twins captured the American League Wild Card series with a two-game sweep that left the Blue Jays reeling.
And if fate needed to hammer the point home, how about the fact that Friday night’s pitching matchup of Gausman versus Pablo Lopez represented a rematch from Game 1 of that Wild Card set.
Unfortunately for the Blue Jays the end result was the same, however Gausman did fare better than that post-season matchup. The Twins have owned the right-hander over the past two seasons, tagging him for 13 earned runs over 13 innings across three starts — and that’s not including the three runs he surrendered to the Twins over four innings in Game 1 of the wild-card series.
Those results have led to Gausman openly wondering if the Twins had something on him and knew what pitches were coming. He somewhat rectified that on Friday, though, allowing just two runs on four hits over 5.2 innings, walking four and striking out four.
He was once again bested by Lopez, who turned in a dominant performance. The Twins right-hander kept Blue Jays off balance all night, mixing a fastball that topped out at 97.3 m.p.h. with a changeup that produced soft contact.
Lopez allowed six hits over 7.2 scoreless frames, striking out three and issuing no walks. Lukes collected one of those hits, lifting a single to centre field off the Twins right-hander in the eighth inning.
Going forward, the left-handed hitter figures to “get a chance to play, especially against righties, and hopefully finish the year on a good note,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
Now, the 30-year-old Lukes was a career minor-leaguer before breaking camp with the Blue Jays to open the 2023 campaign. He’s not seen as a difference-maker within the organization, however, his strong season in Buffalo shouldn’t be discounted.
Lukes was in contention for a roster spot during spring training but has excelled all year, despite missing nearly two months with a surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left thumb.
NOTE: Joey Loperfido was out of the lineup after leaving Thursday’s game following a collision with the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Schneider said the outfielder is dealing with neck issues but is overall feeling better and did clear MLB’s concussion protocol before partaking in light pre-game activities on Friday.
