Royce Lewis plays after two years off as Twins fall to Atlanta

VENICE, Fla. — With top prospect Royce Lewis batting leadoff and playing shortstop, and Alex Kirilloff hitting third and manning first base, Friday's spring game looked a lot like what many anticipated to be the Twins' future.

That is until the pandemic set many prospects back with no minor league ball in 2020. And until Lewis tore his ACL ahead of the 2021 season, and Kirilloff cut his rookie year short for wrist surgery.

While both had two fruitless at-bats in the 3-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Friday at CoolToday Park, it was still a sign that the Twins' pipeline is back on track.

Lewis struck out in the first inning and grounded out in the fourth in his first game back since a March 10 spring game in 2020. He joked his goal for Friday was to hit four homers.

"I don't care [how I hit], I love the game. I did want some ground balls, and I got them, so that was exciting. Just to make some plays again and be on your toes," Lewis said. "And I wanted to get a ball in the gap, which happened with [William] Contreras hitting a double."

Kirilloff hadn't played since July 19 last season and lined out in both his at-bats.

"It's just about getting my timing down and putting good at-bats together, and I felt like I did that with just sticking with my approach both at-bats," Kirilloff said. "It's fun. You miss it when you're down, however long you're down for an injury. It's good to be back competing, playing in real games again."

The Twins were hitless through eight innings but broke up the Braves' combined no-hitter with three hits in the ninth, scoring on Dennis Ortega's RBI single.

Drew Waters homered for Atlanta in the third off losing pitcher Jovani Moran.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he wanted Lewis and Kirilloff to "break the ice" and start to regain their feel for live games. Now they just have to do that a couple more times, and the two good friends hope they can keep doing that together.

"Oh, it was a blast," Kirilloff said. "Anytime you have your friends out there, it makes it even more fun and makes you want to win even more because you're going to win it with your buddies."