Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee end slumps in Twins' win over Angels

Lewis and Lee each hit two-run doubles in another needed win for Minnesota.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) throws to the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on Sept. 11, 2024. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Whether it was the trip back home, the return of the lucky summer sausage or a combination of the two, slumps came to an end and the Twins picked up a series win over the Los Angeles Angels.

Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee both put an end to long hitless stretches and both hit two-run doubles in a 6-4 win over the Angels Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 15,660 at Target Field in Minneapolis. The Twins won the final two of their three-game series against the Angels.

Before Lewis and Lee saw their slumps come to a close, Willi Castro first put an end to a 0-for-16 skid with an RBI single in the fourth inning that tied the game at 2-2. Lee then put an end to his 0-for-19 stretch with a two-run double the next at-bat to give the Twins their first advantage of the night.

Royce Lewis saw his 0-for-20 skid end with a sixth-inning single. And for a moment an inning later, it looked like he was right back to doing Royce Lewis things. Well, it was close enough anyway.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, Lewis hit a deep fly ball to center field that appeared to clear the wall for a grand slam. But review revealed the ball hit the top of the padding, and the result was instead a two-run double that gave the Twins a 6-3 lead. A big swing nevertheless.

"That was a bullet," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "... It was a great swing. You can always feel Royce, when he feels good about what's going on, he gives off a lot — there's a lot of good energy coming off and that was one of those nice Royce moments."

2 RBI for Royce! pic.twitter.com/XQujxtHkk1

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 12, 2024

Lewis went 2 for 4 overall with the two RBIs.

The Angels (60-86) had gotten within a run when Jordyn Adams hit a 419-foot solo homer off Jorge Alcala in the sixth inning. The Twins went deep into their bullpen, utilizing five relievers, after a short day from Zebby Matthews, who allowed two runs off five hits while fanning five across 3 1/3 innings.

The two runs came off homers: Taylor Ward hit a 416-foot leadoff homer in the first inning, and Nolan Schanuel hit a 382-foot solo homer to right field in the third inning. The Twins then turned to five different relievers the rest of the way: Cole Sands, Caleb Thielbar, Alcala, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran.

"We had a bunch of guys that could go out there and pitch," Baldelli said. "We have the day off (Thursday). It kind of led to us having a shorter leash with Zebby, regardless of how he was doing. We were going to go to our bullpen reasonably early in the game one way or the other."

The highlight of the bullpen was Jax, who pitched two hitless innings and fanned three on a day much of his family was in attendance, including his brother and sister-in-law, who were two of four pilots that conducted a flyover of Target Field as part of a remembrance of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Angels got three hits and a run off Duran in the ninth inning, but he was able to close it out and pick up his 23rd save of the year. Sands picked up his seventh win of the year for the Twins (78-68).