Royce Lewis’ homer breaks scoreboard in Twins’ loss to Rays

MINNEAPOLIS — It seemingly wasn’t enough for Royce Lewis to be breaking records — so he had to go and break the stadium, too.

Not only did Lewis’ fifth-inning blast carry him even further into uncharted territory in the Twins’ record books, but he left his mark on Target Field — literally — as a large chunk of the ribbon video board on the facing of the second deck hit by the homer went dark for the remainder of the game, a lasting reminder of Lewis’ explosive impact from the plate.

But on Wednesday, that wasn’t enough for Lewis and the Twins to overcome his own miscue on defense, a costly throwing error in the top of the 10th inning that plated the go-ahead run in an eventual 3-2 loss to the Rays. It snapped Minnesota’s six-game winning streak and handed them only their second loss in their last 10 games.

“This sport can humble you very easily,” Lewis said. “I’m not going to let that define my day, my year or who I am, because it was just unfortunate bad timing.”

It’s perhaps easier for Lewis to own the spotlight for that errant throw that went wide of first baseman Carlos Santana to plate Randy Arozarena in the 10th because Lewis’ career continues to be defined by the improbable feats he seems to constantly accomplish at the plate. His most recent feat of record-setting power left a mark — not that he or the Twins knew it at the time.

They just figured that the blacked-out chunk of ribbon board above most of section 131 had been a stadium malfunction — and none of them had connected the dots until after the game, when asked about Lewis’ feat in postgame interviews.

“Is that what happened? Does it break?” asked an incredulous Lewis.

Yes, it does — and you did it.

“I did notice it was out,” Lewis said. “I was thinking, ‘Man, they have to be really pissed off that it’s not working.’ I didn’t know it was from the homer, so that’s pretty cool.”

How was it that he didn’t know? Hilariously, with the rate at which Lewis has homered in his career, he never bothers to watch his homers land anymore, because he has a good sense just by feel off the bat.

Lewis now has 25 homers in his first 84 career regular-season games, by far the most in club history and seven round-trippers ahead of his nearest competition, Miguel Sanó. It also marked his eighth blast of the year, passing Byron Buxton (2022) and Harmon Killebrew (1961) for the most in Twins history in the first 14 games of a season.

So, he just looks to the dugout at his teammates as he starts his home run trot, so he can celebrate with them.

“No, you see it [land later] on TV,” Lewis said. “My thing is just enjoy the game, have as much fun as possible. It’s a blessing to be here every day. I can watch it later. My friends can send it to me. Usually, my grandma on [social media].”

His teammates had been caught up in that celebration with Lewis, so Lewis’ association with the blacked-out scoreboard panels was news to them, too.

“What did he do now?” Austin Martin asked when queried about Lewis’ destruction.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Martin added with a chuckle. “That guy is a special type of talent. You don’t really see players like that every single day. So just being able to be here and see it in person is awesome.”

Lewis did have some defensive highlights, too, making a diving stop and strong throw to rob Yandy Díaz of a hit in the third and getting the Twins out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh by fielding a tricky grounder and beating the runner to third base.

But the bat continues to captivate — and his tear is seemingly getting destructive.

“When he finds the barrel, you hear that kind of piercing snap that you hear sometimes, but he finds the barrel more often than most,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When it leaves the bat, a lot of the time, there’s not really a question.”

The piercing snap was followed by a dull thunk of cowhide on electronic display on Wednesday — then, presumably, the sputter of said electronics as they went out.

Let’s hope the Twins have insurance for that.

“If I had to pay for that, that would be a lot,” Lewis said. “Hopefully not.”