NEW YORK – Royce Lewis walked around Central Park with his family and checked other items off his tourist checklist to celebrate his 25th birthday Wednesday. Then he did something else in typical Royce Lewis fashion: He homered. Lewis clobbered a solo homer to left field off New York Yankees reliever Dennis Santana in the seventh inning Wednesday.
He became the first player in Twins history to hit a homer in each of his first three games of the season. "What he does when he returns from long breaks is really nothing short of remarkable," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
homered in his first three games of the season this year. The last time a player homered in the first four games of the season was Milwaukee's Christian Yelich in 2019. Lewis already became the first player in Twins history to reach base safely in his first five plate appearances of the season, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
It's not supposed to look this easy for a player who appeared in fewer than 80 games and missed as much time as he has with injuries in the past three years. * Sign up for our Twins Update newsletter "When he's been playing, he's been unbelievable," Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. "I think everybody is excited to see what a healthy Royce Lewis can do.
Everybody wishes and hopes he can stay healthy and not deal with anything anymore." Lewis explains his success as just trying to "stay within myself" and not lose focus on any pitch..
