NEW YORK — Royce played like Royce on Tuesday night. Because of course he did.
Fresh off his own personal “spring training,” Royce Lewis appeared to be in midseason form in his return to the diamond Tuesday night.
Playing in his first major-league game in 9 1/2 weeks after missing 58 contests with a severe right quad strain, the young Minnesota Twins star walked twice, turned in a spectacular defensive play and homered to get his team on the board.
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As outstanding as he was, the return of Lewis wasn’t enough to help the Twins, who were stymied by ex-farmhand Luis Gil and the New York Yankees 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Starting pitcher Bailey Ober allowed three early earned runs, and Gil limited the Twins to one hit over six scoreless innings as they lost for the fourth time in four games to the Yankees. Giancarlo Stanton’s eighth-inning two-run homer off Caleb Thielbar put the contest out of reach.
“It’s nothing short of remarkable,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Lewis. “We lost the game (Tuesday), so it’s hard to start gushing about things. But I’ve never heard of or seen anyone do what he did today, and he’s done this three, four other times in his career. I’ve never seen anybody do that ever. Not even close.”
Two days after he suffered the Opening Day injury, Lewis joked on March 30, saying, “Maybe I’m too electric for my own good.”
Turns out his comments weren’t too far off the mark.
Since returning from a second torn anterior cruciate ligament on May 29, 2023, Lewis has demonstrated a flair for the dramatic. In that contest, Lewis returned to the majors exactly one year after tearing his ACL and homered and later singled in the tying run in the ninth inning of a win at the Houston Astros.
After blasting a Twins season-high four grand slams among his 15 home runs in 58 games, Lewis returned from a late-season hamstring injury and crushed two solo homers in the team’s playoff opener, an Oct. 3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays that ended the franchise’s 18-game postseason losing streak. For an encore, Lewis began the 2024 season in a similar fashion, homering off the Kansas City Royals’ Cole Ragans in his first at-bat of the season on March 28.
“He’s one of the more dynamic hitters in our locker room and, honestly, in the game,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “To put a guy like that back in there is going to be awesome.”
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Hours before he took the field, Lewis said a six-game rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul was akin to spring training. Though he went 4-for-23 with one walk and eight strikeouts, the rehab helped Lewis shed the rust from a lengthy layoff. He also felt accomplished from a physical standpoint and as strong as ever. Still, Lewis copped to feeling uncomfortable in his May 25 rehab opener.
“Two months of nothing, then all of a sudden you’re thrown into a game and seeing live pitching,” Lewis said. “I forgot about sinkers and stuff.”
BACK LIKE HE NEVER LEFT #MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/ZQvuFjxiTk
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) June 5, 2024
Apparently, all Lewis needed were the bright lights of Yankee Stadium to help him rediscover his form.
He began Tuesday demonstrating outstanding patience against the hard-throwing Gil, who was named the American League rookie and pitcher of the month for May.
Batting in the second inning, Lewis warded off two months of frustration and avoided an aggressive trip to the plate. He didn’t flinch at a close 1-0 slider, took a pair of healthy hacks, worked the count full and drew a walk. Lewis was the first Twin to reach against Gil, who hadn’t yet pitched stateside for the Twins when they dealt him in spring 2018 for outfielder Jake Cave.
The next time he batted, Lewis fell behind in the count 1-2 before taking three consecutive balls for another walk.
But his most shocking and yet totally unsurprising moment arrived in the seventh inning. Facing fireballer Tommy Kahnle, Lewis patiently waited again before jumping on a 1-1 fastball on the inner half and belting it out for a solo homer. The ball left Lewis’ bat at 110.1 mph and traveled 428 feet for a no-doubt home run into the visiting bullpen.
“Today was a good example of how much I miss the game,” Lewis said. “That’s exactly why I was so antsy to get back, because I feel so good playing the game right now and I love it — and you love it and you just crave it. You want it more. Just like In-N-Out when I was a kid. I wanted it every night.”
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The Twins could use more Lewis-like production throughout their lineup. In 285 big-league plate appearances, Lewis has homered 19 times, with an additional four hit in the playoffs last October.
But Gil kept everyone else in the Twins lineup in check. He worked around a one-out Christian Vázquez double in the third inning and the walks to Lewis. Gil then erased a four-pitch walk to Willi Castro in the fifth with an inning-ending double play off the bat of Vázquez.
“When you have stuff like that and you command the ball pretty well, it’s a nice combination,” Baldelli said. “He threw a good game today.”
Not only did Lewis show off his skills at the plate, but he also flashed the leather. With one out in the fourth inning and the Twins trailing by three runs, Lewis dived to his right to nab Gleyber Torres’ one-hopper and fired to first for the out.
Hold the phone, he's got a cannon! #MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/3k9Ti9dod8
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) June 5, 2024
“Love seeing him out here smiling, having fun and playing great baseball,” Ober said. “It’s great to have him back.”
Lewis looked like an excited child on Christmas morning as he addressed reporters before the game. A month ago, Lewis described his rehab process as the most difficult of his career because there was no finish line in sight. Whereas he’d twice missed a year after tearing the ACL in his right knee, the rehab from the quad strain he suffered running the bases had no set timeline.
As he neared the six-week mark, Lewis felt great but knew he still had plenty of time to go. Yet as difficult as being sidelined was, Lewis felt prepared for his return on Broadway.
“Royce is going to play like Royce,” Lewis said before the game. “I’m really excited about that. I think that’s why we took some of that extra time and listening to the doctors about getting to full strength, so we could do that kind of thing.”
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One aspect of Lewis’ rehab that surprised the Twins was when he stole a base in the first game of his rehab on May 25. Lewis singled and took off running on the first pitch, which surprised his teammates and coaches. The Twins specifically have asked Lewis to dial it back physically to an extent in the name of self-preservation.
“The first game he played, I’m like, ‘All right, man, go do good. Don’t overdo it,’” teammate Byron Buxton said. “First day, pshew, took off. And I was like, ‘You know? What are we doing?’”
Lewis said he knew he’d gone overboard when he returned to the dugout and saw the faces of the Triple-A coaching staff and his teammates. He described it as a miscommunication and said he had a good phone call with Baldelli the following day. The Twins hope Lewis follows the same path as Buxton and Carlos Correa, who go full-throttle when necessary but have held back from running 100 percent on routine groundballs.
“It was just a misunderstanding, a miscommunication on my end,” Lewis said of the stolen base. “When I came into the dugout, (Triple-A manager Toby Gardenhire) and guys were looking at me. Even my teammates. I was like, ‘I probably did something wrong.’ I’m just glad after the game everything felt normal and fine, so we’re good.”
Twins teammates don’t simply want Lewis around for his big bat and stellar glove. They love his infectious energy and desire to be on the diamond and feed off it.
Lewis not only brought an upbeat demeanor to Yankee Stadium, but he also looked like Mr. Clean. With a freshly shaved face and head, Lewis was looking for a clean restart to the season.
“He’s really bald,” Jeffers said. “Like shinily bald.”
His play was as clean as his look. Whether it was at the plate or in the field, Lewis was composed despite feeling anxious.
“I just had a great, focused day,” Lewis said. “I tend to do that when the lights are a little bit brighter.”
(Photo: Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)
Dan Hayes is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Twins. Dan joined The Athletic after 5 1/2 years at NBC Sports Chicago and eight years at The North County Times, where he covered the Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres, four World Series, the NBA Finals, NHL Stanley Cup Final, NASCAR, UFC, Little League World Series, PGA and the NFL. Follow Dan on Twitter @DanHayesMLB
