MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis homered in the eighth inning to break open the game, and Chris Paddack bounced back from a rough outing with a sharp performance to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
Lewis, who was injured in the season opener and missed two months with a severe right quad strain, has homered four times in seven games. Lewis took Rockies reliever Nick Mears deep to left for a 435-foot, two-run blast to cap a three-run eighth inning.
''It's impressive, but nothing that would shock you at this point. He's a very dangerous hitter,'' Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. ''You feel like every swing, something good could happen for your team."
Christian Vásquez, Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach each drove in a run for the Twins, who have won two in a row after dropping five straight games.
Paddack (5-3) allowed six hits and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings. He pitched out of trouble in the first inning when Colorado's Charlie Blackmon singled to lead off the game and eventually ended up at third base. But the Twins right-hander struck out Ryan McMahon to strand Blackmon on third.
''He pitched well. We had the first-inning chance. Double play got us,'' Rockies manager Bud Black said. ''But Paddack pitched well. He's got good stuff.''
Rockies right-hander Dakota Hudson (2-8) took the loss despite allowing just four hits in 6 2/3 innings. One of the two runs he allowed was unearned.
In his previous start, Paddack allowed seven runs in four innings in a loss to the Yankees. While he said he felt like his stuff was good in that outing, New York jumped on him for four first-inning runs before he eventually settled in for a stretch.
