Royce Lewis is injured and misses the Minnesota Twins’ opening game of the season.
Missouri’s Kansas City Star batter Royce Lewis had to leave Thursday’s opening due to an injury, which has put the Minnesota Twins’ fledgling season on a concerning start.
In the third inning, Lewis rounded second base and pulled up, ending the game. It’s unclear how serious his injury is.
After a fantastic postseason run the previous year, Lewis continued where he left off as he homered in his first plate appearance of the day. In two series, he blasted four home runs, including two in his very first postseason game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
For the Twins this season, Lewis, 24, was supposed to start at third base. He was selected first overall in the MLB draft in 2017.
The first game of a three-game series against the Royals begins on Thursday. After that, the Twins will play two games against the Brewers in Milwaukee before returning to Minneapolis on April 4 for their home opener.
Royce Lewis should be fine for the Twins’ second game against the Royals.
On Opening Day, the Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-1, despite Royce Lewis committing a costly error at third base after Carlos Correa’s RBI double.
The Twins will anxiously await the news on Lewis before playing the Royals on Saturday afternoon to extend the series.
Lewis, who homered in his first at-bat, said, “It just felt like a small cramp, then it immediately tightened up.” “Dang, that should be 3-1,” was the first thought that came to me. I was even more disappointed that I was unable to score after Carlos hit the exquisite shot down in the corner.”
He was replaced by Edouard Julien on base.
“I believe it was a wise decision to make the pull, simply because I couldn’t sprint and score in those circumstances,” Lewis remarked. “I really can’t wait to see you (Friday) and find out the results of the MRI.”
With his two RBIs on his 3-for-4 Opening Day, Correa extended his major league-best streak of safely reaching base at Kauffman Stadium to 21 games.
On Saturday, right-hander Joe Ryan of the Twins will take the mound. He is 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA in six starts versus Kansas City, and he has had amazing success against Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals, who has only one hit in 16 at-bats against Ryan.
When Ryan faced Kansas City last, on July 3, 2023, he won 8-4 for the Twins while striking out nine batters in six innings.
Seth Lugo, a right-hander, will start for the Royals on Saturday. He has a 2.57 ERA in four career games (two starts) against Minnesota.
On May 10, 2023, Lugo most recently pitched six innings for the San Diego Padres, giving up two runs on five hits and five strikeouts. Max Kepler was given a double and a solo home run.
Cole Ragans, starting for the first time in his career on Opening Day, fanned nine runs on Thursday, a team record for the day. Ragans pitched ahead of the count, hitting the first 11 batters with first-pitch strikes on his four-seam fastball, which reached 98 mph.
“Getting ahead is the most important thing,” Ragans stated following Thursday’s defeat. “I felt that our combination of everything was quite nice. I had a terrific first-pitch experience. We were merely attempting to throw them off balance, and we had a really excellent blend.”
The only run Kansas City scored came from a leadoff home run by Maikel Garcia; over the last six innings, the Royals managed just two singles.
“You’re not going to win a lot of games with just one run scored,” Matt Quatraro, manager of the Royals, stated. “You’re going to have to figure out a way to scratch a couple across against good pitching like that.”
Garcia was one of 19 players on the 2024 roster who were not in Kansas City for Opening Day in 2023, making up 73 percent of the roster that was added after nine Royals players made their debuts on the Opening Day roster.
With regards to the new roster composition, Quatraro stated, “It didn’t take long for it to feel like a cohesive squad.” “That illustrates the character of both the guys who were here and the guys we brought in.”
