Five innings after Royce Lewis amazed with another homer, memorably destroying a section of a ribbon board where the ball landed, he made a costly throwing error that ended the Twins’ six-game winning streak.
The Twins lost 3-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday after Lewis fielded a ground ball with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, but his wild throw to first base allowed Randy Arozarena to score the go-ahead run from second.
Lewis, Max Kepler and Carlos Correa came to the plate with a runner on second base in the bottom half of the inning, but they all came up empty. It was the Twins’ first extra-inning loss in four attempts this year.
The Twins had already caught a break in the 10th inning. After Jorge Alcala hit Arozarena with a pitch, giving him two runners on base with none out, he had a wild pitch that rebounded from the backstop directly to catcher Christian Vázquez. Jose Siri, the automatic runner at second base, was tossed out trying to advance to third.
Lewis’ error, however, gave it away.
In the fifth inning, Lewis received a cutter over the heart of the plate in a 1-2 count from Rays righthander Taj Bradley, and he drilled it to the facing of the second deck in left field. The ball left his bat at 109 mph, the hardest-hit ball of the game, and it broke the section of the ribbon video board it hit.
Literal lights-out power.
Turning into the modern-day version of Roy Hobbs, Lewis let out a yell and looked at his teammates in the dugout when he began his home run trot. His eight homers in his first 14 games of the season are a team record, one more than Byron Buxton (2022) and Harmon Killebrew (1961).
In the seventh inning, after Cole Sands replaced Ryan, Ben Rortvedt hit a one-out single and José Caballero entered as a pinch runner. Caballero swiped second base and advanced to third when Twins shortstop Carlos Correa missed catcher Christian Vázquez’s throw attempting a quick tag.
The extra base was costly to the Twins because Caballero scored the game-tying run on a soft dribbler to third base. Steven Okert took over for Sands after the infield hit, and he left the bases loaded after walking an additional batter.
Twins reliever Josh Staumont, who hasn’t allowed an earned run this season, walked three batters in the eighth inning, but he escaped after Yandy Díaz lined out to left field with the bases loaded.
Ryan yielded one run and six hits in six innings. Isaac Paredes, the Rays’ third baseman, hit a solo homer to left field in the third inning, connecting on an inside splitter, and he was the only runner Ryan allowed to reach third base. Rays hitters had trouble with Ryan’s fastball, whiffing on 12 of their 27 swings against the pitch.
It was nearly three years ago when the Twins acquired Ryan in a trade with the Rays for two months of Nelson Cruz. Ryan was still a prospect, pitching in Class AAA, and he’s transformed into a solid mid-rotation starter. He used to rely on his 91-92 mph fastballs without much offspeed pitches, and now he’s averaging more than 94 on his fastball with a strong splitter, two versions of his slider and a sinker.
“He can just take a baseball and throw it where he wants to throw it better than 95% of the pitchers in the big leagues, Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He just has that ability. He can change his delivery. He can put the ball where he wants it better than other people. That’s a great place to start. Once you have that, you can do it with different types of pitches.”
The Twins erased their one-run deficit in the bottom of the third inning. Austin Martin and Willi Castro opened with back-to-back singles, Castro costing himself a likely double when his helmet flew off his head and clipped his foot to trip him after he rounded first base. Three pitches later, Martin scored on a groundball double play.