WebFi Royce Lewis’s career night helps lead Twins in blowout win over Guardians – Twin Cities

CLEVELAND — The big moments have found Royce Lewis. And the rookie has started to put the rest of the league on notice: He thrives in those moments.

Earlier this season, the Twins were one of the worst-hitting teams in the major leagues with the bases loaded. Enter Lewis.

The rookie blasted his third grand slam in a matter of eight games and added another two-run hit with the bases loaded innings later, helping lead the charge in the Twins’ 20-6 smackdown over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night at Progressive Field.

The win inched the Twins closer to a division title, extending their lead over second-place Cleveland to six games with two head-to-head matchups remaining and 24 games left in the regular season.

Much of the damage came against a pitcher that the Twins have grown accustomed to seeing in the past few years. Since 2021, there’s no starter the Twins have faced more than Lucas Giolito. But the version of Lucas Giolito they’re used to seeing donned a black and white jersey and often shut their bats down.

That’s not who they saw on Monday night.

Giolito, traded by the division-rival White Sox to the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline and claimed off waivers by Cleveland on Thursday, had his Guardians debut wrecked as the Twins tagged him for nine runs in just three innings pitched.

A bulk of that damage came in the second inning after Giolito had struck out a pair of batters to begin the frame and was up 0-2 on catcher Ryan Jeffers. But Jeffers wound up working a 10-pitch walk, the first of three walks that Giolito issued in the inning, which helped set the stage for more heroics from the rookie third baseman.

Lewis took a fastball from Giolito and drove it 401 feet out to left field, making it a 6-0 game at the time. It was his fourth grand slam in the first 56 games of his career — and the third against Cleveland.

That helped force Giolito, who had given up just two runs in 18 innings pitched across three starts against the Twins earlier this season, out of the game early. Giolito’s exit didn’t mean the end of the Twins’ offense, though.

Lewis came through again with a two-run single to bring home another pair of runs off Enyel De Los Santos in the sixth inning. That prompted the Guardians to turn to David Fry, a position player, who allowed home runs to Joey Gallo, Kyle Farmer and Matt Wallner in his four innings of work.

The Guardians had plenty of their own chances off Twins starter Pablo López, who did not throw a 1-2-3 inning in his effort but still managed to keep Cleveland in check, allowing one run in six innings pitched as he cruised to his 10th win of the season.