Twins top Royals 8-3 but see Byron Buxton exit game

The last time Royce Lewis played in a game against the Kansas City Royals, the lasting image was him limping off the field after running from first to third base in an Opening Day win.

On Monday, it was a different image: Lewis backpedaling out of the batter’s box and flipping his bat after a two-run homer to complete a six-run rally in the second inning at Target Field. The Twins picked up an 8-3 victory over a Royals team on their heels in the American League Central and wild-card standings.

The victory, however, came with a cost. Byron Buxton exited after striking out in the fifth inning with right hip discomfort, the team announced. Buxton walked straight to the clubhouse tunnel without taking off his helmet or dropping his bat, a tough sight for an offense already missing Carlos Correa and Brooks Lee because of injuries.

“I think it was probably the first swing of the [third inning] at-bat where he felt it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He normally doesn’t pull himself out of a game immediately, even when something is bothering him. He stayed in for a little while and he made the decision. He knew he had to come out of the game.

“We’re going to see how he feels over the next day or two. We’ll see.”

The Twins, who own a 6-2 record against Kansas City this year, have won 17 of their past 19 games vs. their division rival at Target Field since 2022. Pablo López contributed a solid start, yielding three runs (two earned) in six innings, but it was a two-out rally in the second inning that flipped the game.

Carlos Santana drew a five-pitch walk against Royals starter Brady Singer, and Ryan Jeffers hit a two-strike slider, located off the outside corner, through the middle of the infield for a single. Austin Martin followed with an RBI single to right field, scoring Santana from second base.

Four pitches later, Willi Castro gave the Twins their first lead of the night with a three-run homer to right-center field. Castro, sprinting around the bases, dislodged his helmet with how hard he clapped when he saw the ball clear the wall.

“That’s the number [two] pitcher I’ve faced the most in the big leagues since I got called up,” Castro said of Singer. “I know the stuff he’s got. I was just focused.”

After Trevor Larnach extended the rally with a ground-ball single up the middle, Lewis battled in an eight-pitch at-bat with Singer. Lewis shattered one of his bats when he tipped a slider, the first of four consecutive pitches he fouled, and he was upset when a bat boy brought out one of his black bats, a different model than the one he broke.

“I was like, I hate this bat. It just doesn’t feel right in your hands,” Lewis said to Royals catcher Salvador Perez, noting he was out of stock with his initial bat model. “I got the new bat, and I was like, ‘Hopefully, we can make this one work.’”

Lewis hammered an elevated sinker to the facing of the second deck in left field. He took three backward steps out of the batter’s box to watch his handiwork before starting his home run trot. Once he returned to the dugout, he almost ran through the line of high-fives out of excitement.

Singer slammed his glove and hat on the dugout bench in frustration after the inning.

“My next at-bat,” Lewis said, “[Perez] was joking with me, like, ‘I think you made it work.’ I said, ‘I still don’t like it.’”

The Twins added to their lead in the seventh inning, capitalizing on a fielding error from Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. With two runners on base and none out, Matt Wallner lined a first-pitch splitter into right field for an RBI single. Manuel Margot, who replaced an injured Buxton, drove in another run on the next pitch with a sacrifice fly.