Minnesota Twins’ Young Star Back on Injured List
The Minnesota Twins jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in Toronto on Friday evening, making it seem like they were going to coast to their fifth-straight victory.
Unfortunately, that’s not how reality unfolded. Instead, starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson gave up five earned runs in the 4th inning, to surrender Minnesota’s lead; a lead they would not get back.
Royce Lewis lands on Minnesota Twins Injured List
But even worse than the MN Twins’ 10-4 losing effort in their series opener against the Blue Jays was the news afterwards that former No. 1 overall draft pick Royce Lewis is going on the injured list with a sprained left knee.
Tough loss for the Twins followed by tough news. Royce Lewis is headed to the IL with a left knee sprain. So is Cody Laweryson with a right forearm strain.
— Audra Martin (@Audra_Martin) April 11, 2026
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The first hint that something wasn’t right with Lewis came pregame, when he was left out of the Twins’ starting lineup. No doubt it hurt Minnesota’s offense in Toronto, where the Twins managed just one hit after Brooks Lee‘s homerun in the 4th inning.
On the season, Royce Lewis was hitting just .222 (12-for-36). However, his OPS had climbed all the way to .822 prior to injury, his OPS+ an impressive 141 — built on 2 homers, 2 doubles and 8 RBI through Minnesota’s first 12 games.
And recently, the 26-year-old third baseman had been heating up, batting .333 with 3 RBI, 4 walks and only 2 strikeouts during Minnesota’s sweep of Detroit earlier this week.
When did Lewis injure his knee?
However, in the 8th inning of their final victory over the Tigers on Thursday, the Twins’ third baseman nearly toppled over in the batter’s box after swinging and missing against Detroit reliever Will Vest — after which Royce limped around and winced in pain for a few minutes, before talking to Derek Shelton and Twins trainers.
But then, something miraculous happened (or so we though). Not only did Lewis stay in the game, he proceeded to leg out a two-out infield single that allowed Brooks Lee to bat in two runs immediately afterwards — putting the Twins up 3-1, a lead they would hold through the ninth.
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Little did we know at the time, but Lewis was not out of the weeds when he stayed in the game Thursday, and now he will be on the Minnesota Twins injured list for at least the next nine days.
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