This story was excerpted from Do-Hyoung Park’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Royce Lewis proudly says he’s had a chance to meet nearly all of his sports idols, including LeBron James, who evidently fell into him while the Twins’ infielder was sitting courtside at an NBA game (which Lewis is happy to count as an encounter).

But the one he’s still missing is Derek Jeter, the shortstop Lewis idolized as a young infielder growing up in Southern California during the era in which The Captain carved out his legacy in the Bronx.

That’s why, in Lewis’ first career plate appearance at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, he vowed to pay tribute by imitating Jeter’s pre-pitch routine in the right-handed batter’s box, including the part where Jeter would hold up his right arm behind him, towards the umpire, as he got set into his stance and prepared for the coming pitch.

“I just wanted to imitate and mimic him because he was my idol,” Lewis said. “To be here for the first time, I thought it was just a good ode to such a gentleman and a player that I very well respected.”

Only one problem, though: home-plate umpire Chris Segal thought Lewis was signaling for his one allotted timeout of the plate appearance, so he signaled for Yankees right-hander Luis Gil to step off the rubber.

“I did that, and the umpire called time when I actually put my hand up,” Lewis said. “I'm not used to that because I don't think they did that back in the day. I was just laughing with him.”

Once Lewis got over the surprise and realized what was happening, he said Segal turned to him and was understanding of the mishap in the moment.

“Oh, you didn’t mean to? Let’s bang that,” Segal told Lewis.

“It was just a one-time thing,” Lewis replied.

So, if anyone was wondering why Lewis randomly seemed to take his one timeout before the first pitch of the plate appearance, that’s why -- and perhaps it helped him settle in before his first plate appearance since Opening Day on March 28.

Instead of unleashing his pent-up impatience and eagerness to swing the bat following his extended recovery from his severe right quad strain, Lewis instead worked a 3-0 count and eventually drew a walk.

“It ended up working out in my favor, though,” Lewis said. “We got the walk.”

After that second-inning free pass, Lewis walked again in the fourth, homered to left-center in the seventh to continue what’s becoming his return-from-injury tradition, and turned in a diving defensive play at third base in the fourth that probably would have made Jeter proud.

And now, Lewis has a talking point for when he finally does get the chance to meet his idol.