On Sunday, Royce Lewis doubled and singled for the St. Paul Saints, giving him three hits in his first two Class AAA rehab games.
He didn’t, however, attempt to steal a base. He probably won’t for a while, either.
“I’m going to contact him in about 20 minutes and instruct him to stop stealing bases during his rehab assignment. “What are you doing?” Rocco Baldelli, Twins manager, said Sunday morning.
What the Twins believe Lewis is doing, or did before Baldelli phoned him, is compromising the health of his right quadriceps, which has kept him out of action for more than eight weeks. Lewis singled in the first inning of Saturday’s Saints game in Buffalo, New York, and promptly stole second base, putting him in scoring position when DaShawn Keirsey Jr. followed with a single.
It was Lewis’ first at-bat since suffering a strained quad on March 28, and the Twins want him to progressively increase his preparedness to play every day.
Take no chances, in other words.
Still, Baldelli stated, “Everything went well. “He had a good first day back on the field.”
The Twins haven’t indicated when Lewis will return to the major league roster, and they won’t until they know for definite. “But he’s going to play this week, and we’re going to see how he’s doing,” stated the coach.
Lewis’ two hits and a run on Sunday were encouraging, and Keirsey also homered, but the Saints fell short of winning the series. Louie Varland allowed five runs in five innings, and the Bisons defeated St. Paul 8-3.
Sands’ Close Call
Twins reliever Cole Sands wanted to know the exit velocity of Josh Smith’s line drive on Saturday afternoon, but not for the typical purpose.
“Someone said it was timed at, like, 82 miles per hour,” said Sands. “I don’t believe that’s true. It appeared to be a considerably harder hit.
He was correct: Statcast recorded it at 89.9 mph. But why did it matter to the Twins’ right-hander? Well, since the ball ended up in Sands’ glove, approximately 3 inches from his head.
“You’ll never get used to that. “Man, it comes at you fast,” Sands said about the near-miss. “I’ve definitely been struck before, in the minors, and I’ve had a couple close to my face. But when you’re on the mound, you can’t let anything bother you.”
Ah, good one. But Sands was in a good mood after pitching two flawless innings, putting an end to a tough streak in which he allowed runs in three straight appearances. He had a solid start to the season, with a 1.98 ERA in April over 13⅔ innings. However, seven runs in seven May innings have more than doubled that total to 4.35.
Making Saturday’s outing even more encouraging, he noted, was the fact that he hadn’t pitched in eight days, missing the team’s trips to Cleveland and Washington.
“But I got hot [warmed up] in a lot of them, so I didn’t feel too rusty, which was good,” Sands stated. “It’s the best I’ve felt in a while, so I want to keep that going.”
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