MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis made a promotional look for the Minnesota Twins on the state truthful within the afternoon, attempting his hand at shearing a cow, chatting with starstruck followers, and chowing down on chocolate cookies, mini-donuts and corn on the cob.

The subsequent cease on his moveable feast got here Monday evening at Target Field, a fats curveball from Cleveland pitcher Xzavion Curry that Lewis smacked into the bullpen, naturally, with the bases loaded.

Becoming the primary Twins participant to hit a grand slam in consecutive video games and powering the Twins previous the Guardians 10-6 to push their American League Central result in a season-high seven video games, Lewis produced one more team-lifting second in a significant league profession that’s solely 50 video games lengthy.

Lewis grew to become the tenth participant in baseball historical past to hit at the very least three grand slams inside his first 10 profession homers and the primary Twins rookie with a number of slams in a single season since Danny Valencia in 2010. No different Twins participant has hit grand slams on consecutive days.

“The kid’s special. We’ve known that for a while now,” shortstop Carlos Correa stated. “Now he’s healthy and doing his thing. I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s a guy who deserves it. He’s a guy everybody loves.”

The first total decide within the 2017 draft has adopted a sidewinding path up to now, lastly thriving within the coronary heart of the Twins lineup at age 24 after a collection of setbacks.

The 2020 minor league season was worn out by the pandemic. Then Lewis suffered a torn ACL in his proper knee in consecutive years, additional delaying his debut and resulting in the signing of Correa that moved him from his pure place at shortstop to 3rd base.

Lewis additionally missed six weeks this summer time recovering from a strained left indirect muscle. Since then, he’s 14 for 47 with 4 homers, 9 runs, 13 RBIs and 6 walks in 12 video games.

“He just continues to do explosive game-changing type of things. He’s making this a pattern, and it’s a pattern that we’re going to take and build off of and keep going,” supervisor Rocco Baldelli stated. “Who knows what’s coming next? I can’t tell you, but he’s doing his job really well right now. It’s all I can ask for from the guy.”

The Twins had been behind 5-0 to Texas within the sixth inning when Lewis hit his grand slam Sunday. They trailed 4-0 within the second when he did it once more Monday to cap a six-run inning.

“You’ve got to play the long game. They might’ve won that inning or that half-inning, but let’s finish the rest of the game because it’s a long one,” Lewis stated.

The similar recommendation might be utilized to his profession, having endured all that point in rehabilitation but nonetheless preserving the perpetually optimistic and energetic demeanor that enamored the Twins after they had been scouting Lewis as an adolescent in Southern California. Those clutch conditions don’t quantity to strain for him, solely enjoyable.

“Hopefully I’m blessed enough to get those opportunities again,” Lewis stated.

Now about that pregame meal: How did all that grease and sugar portend one other grand slam?

“Here’s my thing: I eat food that makes me happy. Clearly it works, so I’m going to keep eating what I need to eat,” Lewis stated. “In the offseason you’ve got to lock it down, though, that’s for sure.”

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com