Wild Pitch Walks Off Blue Jays After Lukes Nearly Stole It

Nathan Lukes hit a 404-foot, two-run homer in the eighth to erase a two-run deficit and swing Toronto's win probability from 19% to 59% — then a ninth-inning wild pitch gave it all back. Texas escaped Toronto 3-2 on one of the stranger endings of the season.

Joc Pederson got Texas on the board immediately, sending a 388-foot shot to right in the first inning to make it 1-0. The Rangers went quiet for a stretch before Elias Díaz singled to center in the sixth, scoring Nimmo and pushing the lead to 2-0. Kumar Rocker was doing the rest — he worked six clean innings, allowing 4 hits, walking 1, and striking out 5 without surrendering a single earned run. That's the kind of start that's supposed to hold up.

It didn't, at least not cleanly. Shane Bieber labored through 5.1 innings for Toronto, giving up 5 hits, 4 walks, and 2 earned runs before exiting. But the Blue Jays found life in the eighth when Lukes — going 2-for-4 on the night — crushed a 404-foot home run to right, scoring Springer and tying the game at 2. That swing moved Toronto's win probability from 19% to 59%, a 40-point lurch that made this feel like the Blue Jays' game to lose. George Springer, who also went 2-for-4, scored on the blast. For a moment, the comeback looked complete.

Then the ninth happened. With Kelenic on base, a wild pitch by Toronto's Varland allowed him to score, putting Texas back in front 3-2 — and that was the ballgame. The scoring sequence lists the wild pitch entry twice, which appears to be a data artifact, but the result is unambiguous: Texas wins. It's worth noting that the Rangers made this trip without Wyatt Langford, who was placed on the 10-day IL Sunday with a strained left hamstring, with Evan Carter activated off the IL in his place. Texas found a way anyway, leaning on a deep lineup — Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran each went 2-for-5 and 2-for-4, respectively — and a Rocker outing that looks, on paper, like one of his better starts of the year. Toronto's bullpen held its own after Bieber departed, with Jeff Hoffman and Adam Macko combining for 2.2 scoreless innings, but it didn't matter once Varland's wild pitch decided things. The Blue Jays will feel this one.