Feeling lucky? Lukes ends up on both sides of strange HR replays

TAMPA -- Welcome to the wild and wacky adventures of Nathan Lukes and the right-field fans.

In a bizarre, 15-minute sequence Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Lukes found himself on the right and wrong end of two home runs in Toronto’s 6-5 win. By the time his own shot was ruled a homer, it felt like a little good karma had come back around for the first one.

“Maybe the baseball gods were on my side and on our side,” Lukes said.

The more controversial home run call broke in favor of the Rays’ Brandon Lowe, who launched a three-run shot in the bottom of the third off Blue Jays starter José Berríos. Lukes had timed his jump at the wall just right, but the moment he came crashing down onto the warning track, center fielder Myles Straw was waving back to the Blue Jays’ dugout to challenge. Immediately, we all saw why.

“I do think he was over the wall and I definitely think I would have had a chance to catch it,” Lukes said, “but obviously their cameras showed otherwise. I don’t know. It was fan interference, and I think that when there’s fan interference, there’s got to be some sort of repercussion for it.”

A fan standing up against the right-field wall had reached to make the catch just above Lukes’ glove. It was one heck of a catch in its own right, but it looked like it clearly got in the way of Lukes, who was trying to do the same thing. The review stretched on, focusing on whether the ball would have cleared the wall without the fan interfering.

That’s why the language of the announcement from crew chief Laz Diaz was important as he relayed the ruling of replay official Phil Cuzzi.

"The ruling was that it was fan interference, but the ball would have been a home run anyway, so it's a home run,” Diaz announced.

Manager John Schneider clearly disagreed, immediately bolting out to speak with Diaz near third base. A second umpire jogged out into the shallow outfield to meet with Lukes, Straw and left fielder Davis Schneider, as well. The sticking point here, clearly, was the replay officials could not definitively determine that the ball would not have cleared the wall for a home run. That means Lukes’ glove -- and the likelihood he would have caught it -- was not part of the official ruling.

“First of all, I was glad Laz didn’t throw me out for just asking for an explanation after a reviewable call,” Schneider said. “He told me that, ‘Yes, there was fan interference and it interfered with Nate’s ability to catch the ball, but they deemed that the ball would have been a home run anyway,’ which is confusing to me. If there’s no fan interference and a player goes over the wall to catch the ball, it seems that’s the same kind of play. Weird one.”

The game of baseball has a way of balancing things out, though. In the very next inning, Lukes was standing on third base, looking to the Blue Jays’ dugout and twirling his finger in the air.

Lukes had pulled a fly ball of his own to right field and Josh Lowe jumped to make a play of its own before the ball fell back onto the warning track. It looked curious enough at first glance, and by the time Lukes scampered into third base, the replay quickly showed that the ball hadn’t bounced off Lowe’s glove at all. It had hit a fan standing behind the wall, and this time, there was no real controversy. After a quick review, Lukes enjoyed the shortest home run trot of his career.

One for them, one for the Blue Jays.

"I'm glad that B. Lowe's was a homer, and I thought that I understood why Lukes' was a homer as well,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash.

By the time the Blue Jays had celebrated and exhaled, everyone involved was left to smile, shake their head and agree that it all worked out. Even José Berríos, who got tagged with the three runs on the Lowe homer, said that he quickly switched from frustration to a smile, realizing that it was a matter of inches and there was nothing more he could do. Besides, it’s better the controversies strike now than in October, which is where the Blue Jays are headed.

The Blue Jays have earned their fair share of good bounces in 2025, but even when things break against them, it’s rarely long until it all balances out again.