{"id":678879,"date":"2026-04-19T05:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678879\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T05:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:52:10","slug":"ive-been-grinding-blue-jays-lukes-delivers-solid-effort-amid-vertigo-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678879\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’ve been grinding’: Blue Jays’ Lukes delivers solid effort amid vertigo issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 Nathan Lukes<\/a> has quietly grinded through the first three weeks of the season in more ways than one. So, when his pinch-hit single snuck through the right side Friday night to end an 0-for-23 slide, and the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> outfielder saw his teammates in the dugout happy for him as he reached first base, \u201cit was just what I needed,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at Bud (first base coach Mark Budzinski) and I go, \u2018I kind of want to hug you,\u2019\u201d Lukes recalled. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018We can hug.\u2019 It was good. I feel like I’ve been due for a cheap one. Hopefully they keep coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three more did in Saturday\u2019s 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, one leading to a first-inning run, and he added a sixth-inning outfield assist, throwing out Geraldo Perdomo trying to stretch a single. It was the type of outing by the 31-year-old the Blue Jays became accustomed to last season, and the kind of effort Lukes aims to deliver more regularly now that he has a handle on the vertigo that\u2019s dogged him since the middle of spring training.<\/p>\n

Lukes visited with a Phoenix-area vertigo specialist Friday morning and doubled down on some head-movement exercises that can help alleviate the symptoms, which include dizziness, unsteadiness and nausea. Since arriving in Arizona, he\u2019s had a couple of \u201cthe better days with my vision that I’ve had in the past month,\u201d which played a big role in him getting better results.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know where (the vertigo) came from and how it happened, but it’s hard to hit when the world is spinning and when you feel like you could throw up at any second,\u201d said Lukes. \u201cI never want to take myself out of the game, whether I’m feeling good or feeling bad. So, I’ve been grinding.\u201d<\/p>\n

As have the Blue Jays, of course, who lost their fourth straight game when Jeff Hoffman, pitching in the eighth inning of a 2-2 game to ensure he got some work in, allowed singles to Ildemaro Vargas and Alek Thomas and a Ketel Marte walk before Corbin Carroll cleared the bases with his third home run of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the second straight poor outing for Hoffman, who allowed two earned runs during a messy ninth in Tuesday\u2019s 9-7, 10-inning win at Milwaukee and adds yet another concern to a roster filled with them, even if manager John Schneider insisted there are no changes in role coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there’s a situation to close out of game, I’ll take Jeff Hoffman,\u201d said Schneider, adding later: \u201cThere may be people that don’t want to hear this, but I’ve got a lot of trust and a lot of confidence in Jeff Hoffman. And I’ve said that for as long as he’s been here.\u00a0\u00a0He’s going to continue to be a big part of our team. And my job is to find spots to put him in and have success. I’m very confident that he will continue to have success, so we’ll just make the best decisions going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the Blue Jays are also trying to do with Daulton Varsho, who left Friday night\u2019s 6-3 loss after two innings with left knee discomfort and sat out Saturday, Schneider noting that \u201cwith the way we’ve been rolling,\u201d they are simply \u201ctrying to just be extra careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think there’s any need for a roster move or anything,\u201d Schneider added, noting that Varsho had been checked out and there wasn\u2019t any concern about anything structural.<\/p>\n

Max Scherzer steadied after two short outings tied to his forearm tendinitis with six innings of two-run ball \u2014 \u201cI’m definitely better, I’m fighting through this. I felt like the ball can come out of my hand a little bit cleaner, I’ve got to recover,\u201d he said \u2014 but the ongoing offensive issues remained, despite 12 hits.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, getting only Jesus Sanchez\u2019s RBI single in the first, bringing home Lukes to open the scoring, and a Kazuma Okamoto RBI single in the sixth that made it a 2-2 game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, as so often has been the case for the Blue Jays so far, the key blow belonged to their opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got to make our own luck,\u201d said Scherzer. \u201cWe’ve got to find a way to go out there and take it to some teams and find a way to punch through. This can happen in July, but it’s happening to us now, so we have to respond to it. \u2026 Everybody can be reflective. And that’s what it takes. It takes a total team effort to win one ball game. I know we can. Obviously, it’s going to be great when we do. Right now, we\u2019ve just got to find that winning recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

One a healthy Lukes can be a big part of, as he showed Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNate’s a damn good baseball player,\u201d said Schneider. \u201cAnd when he’s at his full capabilities, that’s the kind of game he can have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Nathan Lukes has quietly grinded through the first three weeks of the season in more ways…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-678879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","14":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116429818635404995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}