Royce Lewis returned from the injured listing on Tuesday to begin the Twins’ postseason run. He hadn’t performed in a recreation since September 19 because of a hamstring pressure, and it wasn’t utterly clear if he can be activated for the collection. It’s a call not with out threat. Speeding a participant again from a hamstring pressure could be suspect, and Lewis’ younger profession has been crammed with well being challenges. From a mechanical standpoint, hamstring strains can compromise the way you work together with the bottom and trigger compensations up the kinetic chain.
Given how essential each at-bat is within the playoffs, there’s little or no room for error. However whereas Lewis nonetheless might not be capable of get right into a full dash, that doesn’t matter a lot for those who’re trotting across the base paths. In his first two at-bats of his playoff profession, he took Kevin Gausman yard for 2 no-doubt residence runs, main the Twins to a 3–1 victory over Toronto and their first postseason win since 2004.
As Jay Jaffe detailed in early September, Lewis has been a distinct hitter since mid-August. His 172 wRC+ from that time by means of finish of the yr ranked eighth amongst certified hitters. Down the stretch, he was one of many absolute best hitters within the recreation; in Sport 1, he confirmed it. Gausman was not as sharp as typical, besides, he managed to maintain Toronto shut exterior of the 2 residence runs from Lewis. In 4 innings of labor, he held the Twins to a few runs, strolling three.
Within the first matchup between Lewis and Gausman, it was clear the Blue Jays right-hander didn’t have his finest splitter command. In a 2–1 depend, he obtained one in every of his 4 whiffs on the pitch on the day, however Lewis took an A swing whereas forward within the depend, understanding he might afford to take action. When Gausman tried to go get Lewis to chase an excellent decrease splitter on the next pitch, it wasn’t practically tempting sufficient. With a runner on first base after a leadoff single from Jorge Polanco, Gausman needed to problem the zone, delivering a 97.4-mph heater on the inside third of the plate. That is what Lewis did:
This was merely an unbelievable swing. Even on a well-located heater from probably the greatest pitchers within the recreation, Lewis was capable of execute a good flip and hold his fingers contained in the baseball. Watching hitters concurrently modify their physique and barrel on inside pitches is extraordinarily aesthetically pleasing; it’s one of the vital spectacular issues a participant can do on a baseball subject, particularly when the pitch is scorching in at 97.
One factor about this swing that’s so particular is how Lewis makes use of his legs. A standard false impression about hitting inside heaters is that you need to open up your hips and legs to get your rotation getting into that route. That’s true to a sure extent, however for those who do it an excessive amount of, you’ll ship the ball into foul territory. To maintain your bat angle at some extent the place you retain the ball truthful, your entrance leg must be your anchor. Lewis strides closed, creates house with a slight scissor kick to get his barrel into the hitting zone, then rotates into his entrance hip. In case you’re a hitter like Isaac Paredes and have a particularly steep bat path, possibly you may open up and have your bat nonetheless on an angle to maintain the ball truthful. However when you have got a particularly flat path like Lewis, whose common Vertical Bat Angle is round 25 levels, you haven’t any alternative however to remain screwed into the bottom and never let your entrance hip go. In case you do every part accurately, then you may ship a pitch like this 386 ft for a line drive residence run.
To make this type of swing as soon as is spectacular, however to match it in your subsequent at-bat with an equally good one exhibits the form of hitter Lewis is. I’d say that Gausman didn’t need the smoke the second time round, however he simply didn’t have his typical splitter command; the pitch was constantly low sufficient that Twins hitters had been capable of lay off all of it night time. Lewis obtained two in a row in his third inning at-bat and held off with relative ease. Gausman threw in a cookie four-seamer at 93 mph, 4 ticks decrease than the one he tossed two innings in the past, to get the depend to three–1. Since Gausman didn’t have the splitter command, he went proper again to the fastball, and Lewis made him pay:
Lewis has 17 profession residence runs; 15 of them had been sprayed between middle subject and left subject, and two had been shot proper down the road. One thing he has but to point out is true reverse subject energy — I’m speaking the 400-footers-to-right-center-kind of reverse subject energy, like this precise swing. Issues had already clicked for Lewis earlier than his hamstring damage, however now that he’s displaying this potential? Yeah, this can be a star within the making.
Lewis virtually supplied all of the offense for the Twins together with his two residence runs, however his teammates got here to play, too. Whereas the lineup’s good at-bats didn’t end in extra runs, Minnesota hitters had been threatening all night time with high quality at-bats and a number of other arduous hit balls. On the opposite aspect of the ball, the protection confirmed out behind Pablo López’s stable 5.2 innings of one-run ball. Carlos Correa demonstrated his defensive consciousness with this heads up play:
And Michael A. Taylor flashed the leather-based himself just a few innings earlier:
All the things performed out completely for the Twins, who handed the ball to their nearer, Jhoan Duran, within the ninth with a two-run lead. He shut the door after filling up the zone with a ton of curveballs. It was a stable all-around recreation from a Twins staff that has been taking part in wonderful baseball of late. With Sonny Grey on the bump for Sport 2 on Wednesday, they’re in an incredible place to take the collection and safe their first playoff collection victory since 2002.
