This freed up a spot on the major league roster, and Lu filled it. "I didn't think I'd play for a while after coming up," Lu recalls, "and was caught by surprise when manager Wang Chen-chih put me in the starting lineup." Lu didn't let the fans down.
巨人一軍的外籍球手克羅馬提因手傷，暫時退出療傷，巨人隊立刻將呂明賜調上一軍取代克羅馬提，「原本我沒預料上一軍就能馬上上場，想不到第二天監督王貞治就把我排在先發的名單上。」