NEW YORK — Was there ever any doubt that Royce Lewis would announce his return like this?

In his first game last season after major knee surgery, he hit a home run and drove in four runs. In the first game of the Wild Card Series, after missing the end of last season with a hamstring strain, he hit two home runs. So on Tuesday, upon his return from a quadriceps strain that he suffered on Opening Day, his at-bats were required viewing.

Lewis drew a pair of walks before hitting a home run, accounting for the Twins’ only run in their 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees on Tuesday night in the Bronx. He also made a sliding stop complete with a strong throw, showing out in the field, too.

While the Twins weathered the past couple of months without him fairly well, Lewis made it quickly apparent how much they’ve been missing without him.

But he couldn’t do it alone on Tuesday, and the rest of his teammates were quieted at the plate — the Twins’ only other hit was a Christian Vázquez double in the third inning off of Luis Gil.

Gil was a 19-year-old starter who hadn’t pitched at a level above the Dominican Summer League when the Twins shipped him to New York for outfielder Jake Cave. Cave played in 335 games for the Twins, serving as a backup outfielder over the course of five seasons.

Gil, meanwhile, spent most of that time in the minor leagues, developing.

Tuesday, the Twins got a chance to look at the pitcher they once traded away — and they saw firsthand why he was recently named the American League Pitcher and the Rookie of the Month for May.

Gil held the Twins scoreless for the duration of his six-inning start, lowering his earned-run average to 1.82, and while Bailey Ober did enough to keep the Twins close, it wasn’t enough on a quiet day for the offense.

Ober ran into some bad luck in the third inning, giving up a home run to Gleyber Torres on a ball that would not have been out in any of the other 29 ballparks. An inning later, an Aaron Judge double that stayed just fair in right field brought home another pair of runs to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

They tacked on another pair of runs in the eighth inning when Giancarlo Stanton took Caleb Thielbar deep for his 15th home run of the season.

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 4: Bailey Ober #17 of the Minnesota Twins reacts after walking Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium on June 4, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

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NEW YORK — Royce Lewis endured a long wait to get to this point, the point where he was finally healthy enough to rejoin his teammates.

The last step of his journey took him a little longer than expected.

Lewis had spent the past week in Rochester, New York, rehabbing with the Triple-A Saints. But his itinerary to meet the team in New York City took him first to Detroit before returning him to the Empire State.

“The flight was great, though,” the ever-positive Lewis said.

The third baseman has plenty of reasons to be happy these days after a grueling, mentally challenging rehab process that started back in March and concluded with a six-game rehab assignment that he said “almost felt like spring training.”

Lewis suffered a severe right quadriceps strain while running the bases on Opening Day, forcing him to miss the next 58 games.

“When you love the game as much as I do — because I believe no one loves it more than I do — it’s a blessing to be here,” Lewis said. “I couldn’t imagine another day without it. Any day I’m here, it’s always the best day ever.”

While he always seems to have a smile on his face, his teammates could tell being away from the game over the past two months was wearing on him and provided encouragement when they could.

Center fielder Byron Buxton, no stranger to injuries himself, said he tried to impart to Lewis that “somebody’s always got his back,” while he was going through the rehab process.

“I knew how badly he wanted to play,” Buxton said. “For something like that to happen in the first game, it’s very crushing.”

While his teammates played the first third of the season, Lewis worked hard behind the scenes and exercised as much patience as he possibly could. Though he was eager to return quicker than he did, he said he understood that the best thing for him was to make sure he was 100 percent healthy before returning.

Now, the hope for Lewis and the Twins is to keep him that way. To that point, manager Rocco Baldelli phoned Lewis after he stole a base in his first rehab game to reiterate that objective.

Lewis described it as just playing the game the way he always has, but had an inkling that he might have done something wrong when he returned to the dugout and saw the look on manager Toby Gardenhire’s face, as well as those of his teammates.

Asked if there was any talk of toning it down, Lewis said there has been “talk about playing like Royce Lewis.”

“Royce is going to play like Royce. I’m really excited about that,” Lewis said. “I think that’s why we took some of that extra time and listening to the doctors about getting to full strength, so we could do that kind of thing.”

Edouard Julien optioned

It wasn’t an easy decision, Baldelli said, but optioning second baseman Edouard Julien to Triple-A to make room for Lewis on the roster was the move the Twins had to make as they try to get the infielder back on track.

“You’ve got to do what you know is right for the team but also for the player and I think that this is the right thing for Eddy and he’s going to use this time very well and productively and come back a much better version of himself,” Baldelli said.

Julien has been unable to replicate the success he had last year in his rookie season and Baldelli said their objective both to get his confidence level back at Triple-A while also working on some specific objectives on the technical side of things at the plate.

He was hitting .207 with a .676 OPS at the time of his demotion, a big drop from last season, in which he finished with a .839 OPS.

“He knows he has real adjustments that he’s going to have to make and there’s no better time than now to make those adjustments,” Baldelli said.

Briefly

Top prospects Walker Jenkins (hamstring) and Brooks Lee (back) have both completed rehab assignments for their respective injuries. Jenkins was activated by Single-A Fort Myers on Tuesday and Brooks Lee has rejoined the St. Paul Saints.

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Mahtomedi has been great this year when it comes to singles play. Tuesday was more of the same for the No. 4 seed Zephyrs.

The last time Mahtomedi faced Eagan was at the start of the season. The Zephyrs won that match 5-2 by winning three of the four singles matches. On Tuesday the Zephyrs won all four singles matches in Minneapolis at the Baseline Tennis Center. They finished with a 5-2 victory over Eagan in the Class 2A quarterfinals.

“We went into the match today knowing we could win in every spot, we just didn’t know where we would win,” said senior Jack Allaben of Mahtomedi. “We were a little nervous going into it, but we all had a positive mindset knowing we could win.”

Mahtomedi will square off with top-seeded Wayzata in the semis at 8 a.m. Wednesday back at the U. Second-seeded Rochester Mayo — who edged past Eden Prairie 4-3 in Tuesday’s quarters — will meet third-seeded Blake in the other semifinal at 10 a.m.

The title match is set for 4 p.m.

In the singles Tuesday, Mahtomedi’s Sam Rathmanner defeated Owen Heidke 6-0, 6-0; Brandon Pham beat Carter Michaels 6-3, 6-1; Allaben was victorious over Jack Gustafson 6-0, 6-1; and Will Lieberman defeated Will Heidtke 6-1, 6-3.

Their strength in singles showed Tuesday.

“Yeah. I mean one of our four singles lost to Eagan earlier in the season, so it was good that he turned it around and won it this time,” Allaben said of the Zephyrs being strong in singles all year. “He (Lieberman) has been improving all year and the rest of the singles were strong in general. That was kind of our plan.”

The Wildcats (17-4) were able to pick up two wins after winning sets over the Zephyrs (24-2) in doubles play. Aidan Wald and Zach Burge defeated Luke Poppinga and Will Gleason 6-2, 6-4, and Luke Roettger and Reese Nelson defeated Sowmik Garishakurti and Blake Prouty 6-4, 7-6 (4).

But Max Hendrickson and Eli Hendrickson were able to move past Jacob Braginsky and Omer Mitha in doubles 6-4, 7-5. The Zephyrs used the same lineup they have had all season long in their win over the Wildcats.

“We went with the lineup we have been using all year, knowing that everyone had a chance,” Allaben said.

CLASS A

St. Paul Academy is two wins away from a three-peat after the top seed bested Minnewaska 7-0 in the quarterfinals at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center.

The Spartans dropped a total of four games across the seven matches.

They’ll meet fifth-seeded Rock Ridge in the semifinals at 8 a.m. back in Minneapolis after Rock Ridge upset Winona Cotter 4-3 in its quarterfinal Tuesday.

Breck and Foley will meet in the other semifinal at 10 a.m., with the title bout set for 4 p.m.

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A man was shot at by South St. Paul police last week after pointing a pellet gun at two officers, charges allege.

Nobody was hurt in Friday night’s incident, which happened at an apartment building garage in the 200 block of Grand Avenue West, according to a criminal complaint charging 54-year-old Demetrious Roosevelt Royal with one count of felony threats of violence.

Demetrious Roosevelt Royal (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Royal, of South St. Paul, remained jailed Tuesday in lieu of $80,000 bail. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.

According to Saturday’s police statement and Monday’s criminal complaint:

Officers responded to the apartment building about 10:15 p.m. after a woman requested help in removing someone from her home. She said she was outside, then disconnected the call.

Officers did not see anyone outside the apartment building, so they went inside and walked toward the garage entrance. When an officer opened the garage service door, he saw a man, later identified as Royal, pointing a handgun at him and another officer.

“The handgun had a red laser attached to it and it was pointed directly at the officers,” the complaint reads.

The officers ran out of the line of fire and slammed the door behind them. They took up positions of cover outside the garage.

About 30 seconds later, as the officers were airing the situation and requesting back-up, Royal emerged from the garage through the overhead door. One officer saw the red laser briefly pointed in his direction, prompting the officer to fire one shot in Royal’s direction. He was not struck.

Officers ordered Royal to drop the gun. He raised his hands above his head and hit the ground. While face down, Royal slid a black object across the ground toward the officers. It was later determined to be a battery-powered red laser device that can be attached to a firearm.

Agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal searched the garage and found a Co2-powered pellet handgun inside a storage tote, which was otherwise empty. The pellet handgun was capable of having a flashlight or laser attached to it.

In an interview with law enforcement, Royal admitted to having the laser but not the pellet gun, the complaint says.

A BCA spokesperson said Tuesday the incident remains under investigation and that the agency plans to release additional details this week.

Royal does not have a criminal history in Minnesota beyond traffic offenses, court records show.

In asking a judge for the bail amount, prosecutors disclosed that Royal has eight out-of-state criminal convictions going back to 1989, including assault-displaying a weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary, robbery and domestic assault.

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