Twins’ Royce Lewis expected to begin season on injured list after straining hamstring

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Eleven days before the Twins begin the regular season, they learned they will likely have to play without Royce Lewis.

Lewis exited Sunday’s spring training game because of a left hamstring strain. He pulled up early after grounding out to third base in the second inning, hobbling to the first base bag and grabbing the back of his left leg.

He walked off the field alongside head trainer Nick Paparesta and immediately went through the dugout tunnel toward the trainer’s room. A magnetic resonance imaging exam to determine the severity is scheduled for Monday morning, but he’s expected to begin the year on the injured list.

“It’s emotional and, of course, disappointing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “In this game, you have to be able to deal with adversity. You have to be able to deal with challenges. Not everyone deals with the same difficulties. Royce knows that.”

Lewis played only 140 games over the past two seasons because of multiple injuries. He suffered a right quad strain on Opening Day at Kansas City last year, an injury that cost him the first two months of the season, and he had a stint on the IL in July because of an adductor strain.

Lewis’ injury Sunday was the first notable one to a position player projected to make the Twins’ Opening Day roster.

“Really sad,” pitcher Pablo López said. “I haven’t gotten to talk to him. It’s always hard to approach someone after something like that happens.”

It’s viewed as a minor injury and the Twins didn’t believe an MRI exam was necessary, but the timing of it could affect the hard-throwing reliever’s ability to avoid the 15-day IL to start the season.

“We have to keep our eyes open to the end goal here, which isn’t just the start of the season. It’s the whole season,” Paparesta said. “We’ll just see how he responds over the next 48 hours.”

Stewart played catch Sunday, which at least gives him a chance to make his next scheduled outing.

Michael Tonkin, sidelined for the last two weeks with a right shoulder strain, hopes to resume throwing in the next few days, but he will begin the season on the Twins’ 15-day injured list.

Tonkin, owed $1 million this year, will remain at the Twins’ spring training facility when the team breaks camp, so he can continue to build up his workload.

“Dr. Meister felt that due to the laxity he has in his shoulder, the best thing to help stop all these muscles from straining constantly over and over again in his rotator cuff was to have this shoulder tightened back up a little bit,” Paparesta said.

Canterino, 27, has been on the Twins’ 40-man roster since November 2022. He was sidelined in 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery and missed the 2024 season with a lingering rotator cuff strain.

• The Twins lost 6-5 to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday at Hammond Stadium. López permitted seven hits and four runs across six innings while striking out eight. The Twins compiled two hits and one run in four innings against Boston’s Opening Day starter, Garrett Crochet, who struck out seven.

• The St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday named former Twin Sonny Gray as their Opening Day starter, so it will be a López vs. Gray matchup when the Twins open their season March 27 at Busch Stadium.

• Justin Topa is scheduled to pitch Monday. He threw 22 pitches in a minor league game Friday, the first time he pitched after leaving a Grapefruit League game early with shoulder tightness.