Lewis plays catalyst late by getting into swing of things

DETROIT -- Royce Lewis surveyed the vast expanse of greenery in the Comerica Park outfield and proclaimed to hitting coach David Popkins: “I’m going to turn into [Luis] Arraez today, just touch the ball. There’s a lot of grass out there.”

Makes it sound simple, doesn’t it?

Rest assured, it’s not actually that easy. The Twins’ No. 2 prospect made it look that way when he reached base four times with a walk and three singles, the last of which plated the go-ahead run to spark Minnesota's game-winning rally in extras for a 6-3 win over the Tigers in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s a mentality thing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That comes with experience in our game. Very few guys learn that very young in our game.”

Lewis got to two strikes as he led off the top of the 10th with automatic runner Carlos Correa on second base. Then, he did just what he'd done all day -- found a way to make contact -- and roped a ground ball off the glove of third baseman Nick Maton into left field, bringing home Correa with the go-ahead run.

That keyed an aggressive sequence in which Ryan Jeffers dropped a sacrifice bunt, Willi Castro attempted a sacrifice bunt before knocking an RBI single and stealing second, and Christian Vázquez roped the ball the other way for a final insurance run.

With the Twins’ hitters having described themselves as pressing and trying to do too much at times, it’s this type of rally they’ve sought. Lewis has embodied the mindset as he extended his hitting streak to seven games and his on-base streak to 10 games with singles in the fourth, sixth and 10th -- one each to right, center and left -- and drew a walk in the eighth before scoring the tying run that eventually sent the game into extras.

“It's a mindset,” Lewis said. “Not waiting for a pitch you can drive, because [pitchers] are going to execute. … I looked at where some of our plans were going and how the pitchers were pitching us, and they weren't attacking us with our plan of getting a mistake. I was like, ‘Why don't I just start being aggressive, putting the ball in play?’”

Lewis is still a developing hitter in the Majors, based on how much time he’s missed with the two torn ACLs and how little time he spent in the high Minors. But he has also been a thoughtful hitter who felt that he identified a plan wasn’t working, so he made the adjustment to rely on the natural bat-to-ball ability that played prominently into the skill set that got him drafted No. 1 overall in 2017.

Even as there were questions about his once-pronounced leg kick and swing, Lewis was never a high-strikeout batter in the Minors -- and it might have been easy to attribute his 19 strikeouts in 57 plate appearances in his first 15 games back in the Majors to rust or an adjustment period to becoming an everyday big leaguer when he returned from his second torn ACL on May 29.

But, as Lewis said, he gets frustrated when he strikes out too often, even as he hit .273 with a .698 OPS in that stretch.

So, he flipped the switch -- and amid this seven-game hitting streak, he has only struck out three times in 27 plate appearances, going 12-for-26 to hit .462/.481/.731 (a 1.212 OPS) with two homers and a double.

That’s another point of his: Lewis doesn’t feel he needs to intentionally seek power, because his swing still finds power when a pitcher makes a mistake -- as he did on Friday with a towering shot inside the left-field foul pole, and as he nearly did again off reliever Will Vest on Sunday with a long foul in the sixth.

“He’s going to hit balls over the fence, [but] we don’t want him out there trying to do that, because that leads to overaggressiveness,” Baldelli said.

All this is easier said than done, but Lewis’ talent is showing in the ability to follow through and be productive in big moments as he still adjusts to the big leagues, and his teammates are definitely taking notice.

“I really like his swing,” Castro said. “I think it's probably the best swing we have here on the team. I just think he's going to get really far. He's going to be here for a long time, just because of that swing.”