Blue Jays 7, Phillies 5: Nathan Lukes Ends It in the 11th

August 8, 2026 - Philadelphia - This one needed 11 innings, two comebacks, and a home run nobody saw coming from the bottom of the lineup to finally end.

Nathan Lukes hit a two-run homer in the top of the 11th, and the Toronto Blue Jays survived a wild night at Citizens Bank Park to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5.

Vlad opens it, Philly answers late

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the game with a home run, and Toronto added another run in the third to build an early cushion behind starter Max Scherzer, who worked into the sixth having allowed just two runs.

Then the Phillies turned the sixth inning into their own statement. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper went deep in the same frame, part of a four-run outburst that flipped a 2-0 Toronto lead into a 4-2 Philadelphia advantage in the space of a few swings. Aaron Nola had done his job into the sixth, and for an inning it looked like his bullpen would only need to protect two runs.

Toronto claws all the way back, twice

The Blue Jays answered in the eighth, scoring twice to tie it at 4-4 and erase the feeling that Philadelphia had already turned the corner. Neither bullpen could hold after that. Philadelphia pushed a run across in the 10th to retake the lead, and Toronto matched it in the bottom of the same frame to send the game to an 11th inning that felt inevitable by that point.

That's when Lukes made his mark. Batting in a spot that rarely decides games like this, he turned on a pitch for a two-run homer that put Toronto up 7-5, a lead that finally held up. It was the kind of swing that gets remembered less for who hit it and more for how long the game had dragged before someone finally landed the last blow.

A bullpen game that both managers will study

Both relief corps got stretched thin. Toronto's Lazaro Estrada closed it out for the save after a night that saw both bullpens combine for six scoreless-or-close innings sandwiched around the runs that actually mattered. Philadelphia's staff, meanwhile, will look at a game where its rotation and lineup both did enough to win and wonder how it still ended in a loss.

Ten hits apiece, four home runs total, and a final score that undersells how many times the lead changed hands. This was the kind of game neither side wanted to end in the 11th, and only one team got its wish.

AthX Engine angle

Guerrero Jr. led Toronto's hitters with 10 AthX Engine hitting fantasy points, and the Blue Jays finished with 12 team fantasy points on the night. Turner's homer and multi-hit game were worth 8 hitting fantasy points for Philadelphia in the loss.

Track Guerrero Jr., Turner, and both clubs on the marketplace. AthX Engine grades the performance; share price is a separate market number. Information only, not financial advice.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, ESPN recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 8, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*