Royce Lewis cemented himself in Minnesota Twins playoff history with two home runs and the Minnesota Twins snapped an 18-game postseason losing streak by taking down the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Tuesday in Minneapolis.
The victory is the first in the playoffs for the Twins since Oct. 5, 2004 when Johan Santana out-pitched Mike Mussina and the Twins beat the Yankees 2-0. The gap between playoff victories spanned 6,937 days, or just two days shy of exactly 19 years.
Minnesota needs one more win to secure the best-of-three series and advance to the Divisional Round for a best-of-seven series against the Houston Astros.
Lewis, who just 24 hours earlier expressed uncertainty about the health of his hamstring that had kept him out of action since Sept. 19, stepped to the plate for his first at-bat in the playoffs and he hit a rocket into the left field bleachers for a 2-0 lead.
Royce Lewi$. #Postseason pic.twitter.com/0xKwsuu4vD
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2023
Lewis struck again in his second at-bat, hammering a 3-1 pitch from Gausman into the stands in right-center field for a 3-0 lead. That homer put him in company with Evan Longoria (2008) and ex-Twins third baseman Gary Gaetti (1987) as the only players in MLB history to homer in each of their first two postseason at-bats.
One of those 10,000 Rakes definitely belongs to Royce Lewis. 💪 pic.twitter.com/3gRJp2i8eb
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2023
“It means a lot and it means a lot that the fans encouraged us and they had that energy for us. They brought it and we brought it for them,” Lewis said on ESPN after the game.
The defensive play of the game went to Carlos Correa when he ran down a ball that went under Jorge Polanco’s glove and made an off-balance throw to get Bo Bichette at the plate. It was Polanco’s second error of the game, from both of which the Twins came away unscathed.
Carlos Correa comes out of nowhere. 😤
(MLB x @CapitalOne) pic.twitter.com/rSwJzWT9KK
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2023
Toronto cut into the lead on Kiermeier’s RBI single in the sixth inning. The single knocked Lopez out of the game, with a final line of one run allowed on five hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out three. Louie Varland replaced Lopez and got Matt Chapman to fly out to the wall in center to end the inning.
In the eighth, with the Twins still leading 3-1, Griffin Jax’s first pitch was whacked for a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Jax then struck out Bo Bichette with a wipeout slider and then got Cavan Biggio to strike out looking. With two outs, Jax got Alejandro Kirk to ground out to first baseman Alex Kirilloff to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Twins loaded the bases with two outs after Donovan Solano walked, Correa singled to center and Ryan Jeffers walked. Willi Castro then struck out looking as Minnesota went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left a total of eight runners on base.
It mattered not as Jhoan Duran pitched around a walk and earned the save, with the final out coming on a diving play by Solvano at first base.
Game 2 is set for 3:38 p.m. Wednesday. Sonny Gray will start for the Twins and Jose Berrios will pitch for the Blue Jays.
