{"id":171987,"date":"2025-09-27T02:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T02:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/171987\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T02:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T02:32:07","slug":"nathan-lukes-goes-deep-for-jays-in-win-over-tampa-bay-rays-torontos-magic-number-down-to-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/171987\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Lukes goes deep for Jays in win over Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto’s magic number down to two"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Nathan Lukes<\/a> hit a two-run homer and George Springer<\/a> scored twice as the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> defeated the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> 4-2 on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber<\/a> (4-2) was effective over five innings as Toronto (92-68) trimmed its magic number to clinch the American League East Division title to two. <\/p>\n

With Springer aboard in the fifth inning, Lukes hit a tiebreaking blast off Adrian Houser<\/a> (8-5) for his 12th homer of the season. <\/p>\n

The Rays had runners in scoring position in the ninth inning but Jeff Hoffman<\/a> got Yandy Diaz<\/a> on a groundout to end the game for his 33rd save in 40 opportunities.<\/p>\n

Toronto entered play tied with New York atop the division standings. The Yankees were home to the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Any combination of Toronto victories or New York losses that adds up to two will give the Blue Jays the East crown.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker if the teams finish the regular season on Sunday with the same record. The East champion will get a bye to the division series while the second-place team will play in the wild-card series.<\/p>\n

Junior Caminero<\/a> and Jonathan Aranda<\/a> hit back-to-back solo shots off Bieber in the second inning. He allowed five hits, two walks and had three strikeouts.<\/p>\n

The Rays (77-83) have dropped 14 of their last 20 games. Announced attendance was 42,184.<\/p>\n

Before the game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said there were no structural issues with Jose Berrios<\/a>\u2019 injured right elbow. The right-hander plans to get a second opinion before next steps are confirmed.<\/p>\n

TAKEAWAYS<\/p>\n

Blue Jays: Toronto put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings and cashed them in both times. It was a welcome sign for an offence that has struggled at times over the last week.<\/p>\n

Rays: Aranda didn\u2019t miss a beat in his return to the lineup after missing nearly two months with a left wrist fracture. A first-time all-star this season, Aranda\u2019s home run was his 13th of the year.<\/p>\n

KEY MOMENT<\/p>\n

Blue Jays shortstop Andres Gimenez<\/a> showed off his range in the sixth inning. He raced into shallow left field to make a sliding catch on a Josh Lowe<\/a> blooper. <\/p>\n

KEY STAT<\/p>\n

Toronto improved to 52-27 at Rogers Centre this season. The Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners<\/a> started the day tied for the best home record in the American League. <\/p>\n

COMING UP <\/p>\n

Blue Jays rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage (0-0, 5.00 earned-run average) was scheduled to make his third big-league start on Saturday afternoon. Joe Boyle<\/a> (1-3, 4.40) was tabbed to start for the Rays.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2025. <\/p>\n

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Nathan Lukes hit a two-run homer and George Springer scored twice as the Toronto Blue Jays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-171987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}