Lewis returns with a dinger one yr after critical knee damage

HOUSTON — It didn’t take lengthy for Royce Lewis to make his presence identified.

“It feels so surreal, right?” Lewis stated earlier than the sport. “I feel one thing particular goes to occur tonight. I couldn’t let you know what, but it surely simply feels prefer it’s type of like that point. I’m simply excited.”

Lewis gave Twins followers much more cause to be excited Monday. Exactly one yr from when he suffered his second ACL tear, Lewis began at third base within the sequence opener vs. the Astros. He didn’t hesitate in his first at-bat, swinging on the first pitch and stranding runners on first and second with a flyout to left subject.

His second time by way of, in the same scenario within the third (runners on first and second with two outs), Lewis got here by way of. He crushed a fastball down the center of the zone and drove it down the right-field line.

His opposite-field energy proved true, because the 336-foot shot eked its strategy to the foul pole, giving Lewis an ideal begin to his return to the Majors.