Article: A Delightful Play on a Dismal Day

[Leo Morgenstern]

Nathan Lukes almost didn't play on Monday. Of course, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, as the Blue Jays flopped their way to a 10-3 loss. But yesterday's pounding would have only been even harder to watch without Lukes in the lineup.

The outfielder exited early in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Mariners. He fouled a 96-mph fastball off his knee in his first at-bat against Bryce Miller and left in the fourth after briefly trying to play through the pain. Although he avoided significant injury, it would have been more than reasonable to expect John Schneider to give him the day off to rest and recover. 

Yet, the skipper made it clear that Lukes would play as long as the training staff gave him the a-okay, and indeed, Lukes was there when Schneider released his starting lineup, batting second and playing right field. As it turns out? Thank goodness.

Lukes recorded three hits in Game 2, as many as all of his teammates combined. His performance moved him into first place on the team in Win Probability Added this postseason, and his FanGraphs Clutch score ranks second in the entire playoff field. He is 7-for-17 (.412) with a .974 OPS in October, and he's been even better in the biggest moments.

On Monday, Lukes directly contributed to all three runs the Blue Jays scored, with a run, an RBI, and, well... whatever you want to call this:

Ignoring context, this might be my favorite play of the postseason so far. The fact that it almost didn't happen at all makes it all the more amusing. 

Let's start at the very beginning. Gilbert delivers the pitch. Lukes sends it straight into the dirt, but hard enough that it takes a high bounce toward first base. You can see the disappointment on his face as he drops his bat, puts his head down, and starts running to first. Little does he know...

Gilbert's initial reaction is more entertaining, even though you can't see his face. Due to his long limbs and atypical motion, he's already one of the game's more interesting pitchers to watch. On this play, however, you can see the moment he realizes he has to snap out of his extended follow-through and run to cover first base. Here it is in GIF form:

And here's a screenshot of the moment I think he realized he needed to drop that leg and start running:

Finally, here it is side-by-side with the previous pitch in the at-bat:

That brief moment of panic you can see on the right perfectly foreshadows what's to come.

The ball was closer to first base than second, but not by a ton, and second baseman Jorge Polanco was playing well over to the right side. In other words, he could have easily fielded the ball and thrown to Josh Naylor at first. Except Naylor wasn't at first. He was barrelling toward the baseball himself. I've never been inches away from a charging Josh Naylor, but I can't blame Polanco for backing off and avoiding a collision.

With the ball in his glove, it was time for Naylor's second questionable decision (perhaps he was trying too hard to impress his fellow Canadians in the stands?). Lukes was still seven long strides away from first, but instead of pausing for even a moment to steady himself, Naylor kept on running and delivered a back-handed flip in the vague direction of Gilbert, who was still scrambling to the bag. The result was a throw that even Gilbert's elite extending arm could not reach:

But wait, because that angle doesn't do justice to Gilbert's flailing attempt to reel the ball in. He sticks his arm back as far as it can go, but at the same time, his forward momentum carries him into the air. With his arms outstretched, he looks like a bird taking flight:

Meanwhile, all Polanco can do is watch. The footage is blurry, but this is an "oh sh*t" face if I've ever seen one:

As for Lukes, he narrowly avoids getting hit by Naylor's throw and even more narrowly avoids a collision with Gilbert. Yet, after he watches the ball sail into foul territory and decides to make a break for second, he has no more patience for anything in his way, namely, first base umpire Alfonso Márquez:

The last thing I really enjoyed about this play, aside from the obvious – George Springer scored, and Lukes replaced him in scoring position – was the very end. After Springer crossed the plate and Lukes jogged into second, the camera turned to Naylor retrieving the ball. I couldn't help but conjure up the sad mental image of a kid without a dog to play fetch with, who has to throw a ball and then go pick it up himself. Except, of course, this was a grown man on a baseball field, and considering how badly he punished the Blue Jays throughout the rest of the game, I feel no remorse laughing at his misfortune. 

The first two games of the ALCS didn't go the way the Blue Jays hoped they would. That's just a fact. Thankfully, even at the most disheartening of times, baseball has a way of making us smile. Nathan Lukes turned an injury scare into a huge game, and the cherry on top was a truly entertaining "RBI" reach-on-error. The Blue Jays may have disappointed on Monday, but at least Lukes made it worth tuning in. 

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