RandBall: It has been an immature week for two of the Twins’ best players

It’s September and a playoff berth is on the line. The pressure (and losses) are mounting for the Twins.

And two of their best players aren’t handling it very well.

Let’s start with Royce Lewis, about whom there has been very little negative discussion because of his upbeat personality, general leadership and penchant for clutch hitting.

This week we learned that Lewis is “terrified” of playing second base and generally reluctant to play that position when called upon. His first go-round for a few innings of a victory Sunday went fine, with Lewis handling all the plays that came his way.

His response afterward: “I think we proved I’m an athlete,” Lewis said. “Now, let’s just keep playing normal baseball, play third and win baseball games.”

None of those things happened Wednesday, as I talked about on the Daily Delivery podcast.

Lewis made his first career start at second base, with the idea being that it helped get many of the Twins’ best righthanded bats in the lineup. But fielding misplays doomed the Twins as they fell behind 8-0 in an eventual 9-4 loss to Tampa Bay.

Lewis again on Monday talked about his discomfort in trying to learn the position on the fly, saying he doesn’t want to mess up in a key situation.

“If we were the White Sox, I mean, sure, let’s try something new if that’s what they want to do,” Lewis said. “But I don’t think we’re the White Sox. We’re trying to win a division.”

Lewis has built up a certain amount of equity even in his brief, injury-marred time in the majors. But he needs to 1) be quiet, do his best and just play second base when asked; 2) definitely not drag into the conversation a division opponent that might remember those remarks when times are better; and 3) focus on lifting his all-around performance, given that he is hitting .228 since he said in mid-June that he “doesn’t do that slump thing.”

While Lewis was in the lineup as the designated hitter in Thursday’s series finale, he and his teammates thought they might be joined soon by Byron Buxton.

But Buxton was ejected in the third inning of a rehab game with the Class AAA Saints for arguing about a pitch clock violation. He might have been frustrated about lingering hip soreness in the brief time he was in the game, which will keep him from rejoining the Twins in Kansas City, but it was a bad look for Buxton.

Buxton’s continued absence will put even more pressure on Lewis, who at many times has been able to handle himself much better than he did this week.

Here are four more things to know today: