Inside Nathan Lukes’ redemption home run versus Royals

All he needed to do next was jog around the bases and touch home plate, fitting after what transpired the night before.

“I guess you can’t screw up baserunning if you just hit the ball over the fence,” Lukes said, chuckling.

Hours before the game, after Lukes met with Schneider in his office, a few of his Blue Jays teammates walked up to him in the clubhouse and told him he was “going to come up big” to make amends for Tuesday’s mistake. In the end, he only needed two at-bats to pull it off.

For players, one of the best things about baseball is that the next day’s game can act as the perfect cleanser. Through the highs and lows of a gruelling, six-month season, costly mistakes can be fixed as soon as just 24 hours later. In Lukes’ case, his page-turning swing couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

“I think that’s one good thing with this team is we’re good about leaving things in the past, and that’s what I needed to do,” he said.

As a whole, the 32-year-old outfielder is pleased with how he’s been feeling at the plate lately, too, particularly with his ability to hit for authority to the pull side. Results-wise, subtracting his early-season struggles as he dealt with vertigo symptoms, he enters Thursday’s series finale against the Royals riding an impressive .286/.338/.418 slash line and a 114 wRC+ (100 league average) over his last 85 games.

With nine home runs this year, the left-handed-hitting veteran sits tied with Ernie Clement for third-most on the team, behind Springer’s 12 and Kazuma Okamoto’s 26 — the most by a Blue Jays rookie in franchise history.

Lukes, of course, isn’t known for his power. But he’s capable of chipping in when everything’s synced up. Following weeks of hard work behind the scenes with hitting coach David Popkins and the organization’s hitting department, they have him looking like a freshly tuned-up car right now.