Fastball

History-Making Royce Lewis Cannot Stop Hitting Home Runs

The Minnesota Twins may have lost on Friday to the Oakland Athletics but Royce Lewis hit yet another home run, which continues to put him in impressive conversations in baseball history.

Brady Farkas

Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (23) hits a single against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Target Field on June 19.
Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (23) hits a single against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Target Field on June 19. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
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The Minnesota Twins lost to the Oakland Athletics on Friday night, but don't blame Twins' slugger Royce Lewis.

Lewis went 1-for-4 in the 6-5 loss with a home run, which is already his 10th of the season. Ten home runs by late June isn't usually that impressive, but in this case it is considering that Lewis has only played 16 games this year because of an injury he suffered an Opening Day.

Because of that fact, Lewis is in some rare and impressive company in baseball history according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Royce Lewis has 10 HR

only players with MORE in their first 16 games of a season:

2007 Alex Rodriguez: 12
1976 Mike Schmidt: 12
2019 Aristides Aquino: 11
2006 Albert Pujols: 11

Schmidt is a Hall of Famer, Pujols will be one and Rodriguez would be one too if not for the connection to steroid use, so this is exclusive company for Lewis to be in. The former top prospect has dealt with injuries his entire young career so hopefully this is the start of prolonged heath for him.

If he can stay healthy, he looks like an anchor for the Twins lineup for years to come. In his limited action this year, he's hitting .368 with the 10 homers and 14 RBI. He's posted a 1.369 OPS.

After the loss, the Twins are now 41-35 on the season. The two teams will play again on Saturday with first pitch coming at 4:07 p.m. ET.

Bailey Ober (MIN) battles against lefty J.P. Sears (OAK).

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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