Royce Lewis was hitless in his first 13 at-bats of the season, but there was another number the Twins’ third baseman preferred to focus on after the Twins’ win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.

“I keep it humble but we’re 5-0 since Royce has been here,” Lewis said. “I can only imagine what it’ll be like when I start turning the tides.”

A day later, he did.

Lewis collected two hits in Sunday’s 7-6 walk-off extra inning win over the San Francisco Giants. In the sixth inning with the bases loaded and no outs, Lewis lined a hit to center, bringing in a run and snapping an 0-for-36 skid that stretched back to Sept. 24 of last season.

“It was a great day,” he said. “I’m just building off great at-bats. Hit a ball 106 (miles per hour) straight into the ground. … Just hitting the ball hard, but they’re making plays. That’s baseball. And then I get the blooper later, so it kind of works itself out. I feel good at the plate.”

Lewis missed the team’s first 35 games with a hamstring strain, returning to the Twins on Tuesday. He got 23 at-bats while on a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Saints before he came back, but he’s still been feeling things out at the plate in the early part of his season.

“Timing is hard,” Lewis said. “I just had six weeks off, I come back in and am facing these dudes that have crazy 18 inches of movement one way, 30 the other way. 97 to 76 (miles per hour) — it’s a big time difference. It was great for me, man. I’ll definitely take advantage of those at-bats and keep moving forward.”

Lewis, Twins manger Rocco Baldelli said, looked “really good,” at the plate and he praised the third baseman’s adjustment-making pitch to pitch.

Now, a day later with two hits to his name, Lewis has a new number he’s focused on.

“I’ve been here what, six games?” Lewis asked. “And six Ws. … I can’t take the smile off my face.”

Correa off

Carlos Correa played in 39 of the Twins’ first 40 games and on Sunday, he got a needed day of rest. He’ll couple that with Monday’s off day to get an extended break.

“We got together with Carlos, had a conversation and decided it would be a good day to get him off his feet,” Baldelli said. “Playing good, you want to keep everybody rolling, keep everybody in there of course. But I think it was something that he needed and something that he’ll benefit from long term.”

Correa missed parts of each of the last two seasons with plantar fasciitis but he’s been moving well and after a tough start to the season, has started to pick it up, hitting .364 with a .891 OPS in his last six games.

Briefly

Michael Tonkin was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis after suffering a setback on his rehab assignment for a shoulder strain. “I’m not sure if he’s had it yet or about to have it, but we’re looking into him getting an injection and probably being down for a period of time before he ramps back up,” Baldelli said. … Simeon Woods Richardson is set to take the ball when the Twins travel to play the Baltimore Orioles in a series that will begin on Tuesday.

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By WILL WEISSERT and AMANDA SEITZ

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll sign an executive order on Monday that, if implemented, could bring down the costs of some medications — reviving a failed effort from his first term on an issue he’s talked up since even before becoming president.

The order Trump is promising will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to tie what Medicare pays for medications administrated in a doctor’s office to the lowest price paid by other countries.

“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” the president posted Sunday on his social media site, pledging to sign the order on Monday morning at the White House.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” Trump added.

His proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. But it could potentially bring significant savings to the government, although the “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS” Trump boasted about in his post may be an exaggeration.

Medicare provides health insurance for roughly 70 million older Americans. Complaints about U.S. drug prices being notoriously high, even when compared with other large and wealthy countries, have long drawn the ire of both parties, but a lasting fix has never cleared Congress.

Under the planned order, the federal government would tie what it pays pharmaceutical companies for those drugs to the price paid by a group of other, economically advanced countries — the so-called “most favored nation” approach.

The proposal will face fierce opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.

It was a rule that Trump tried to adopt during his first term, but could never get through. He signed a similar executive order in the final weeks of his presidency, but a court order later blocked the rule from going into effect under the Biden administration.

The pharmaceutical industry argued that Trump’s 2020 attempt would give foreign governments the “upper hand” in deciding the value of medicines in the U.S.. The industry has long argued that forcing lower prices will hurt profits, and ultimately affect innovation and its efforts to develop new medicines.

Only drugs on Medicare Part B — the insurance for doctor’s office visits — are likely to be covered under the plan. Medicare beneficiaries are responsible for picking up some of the costs to get those medications during doctor’s visits, and for traditional Medicare enrollees there is no annual out-of-pocket cap on what they pay.

A report by the Trump administration during its first term found that the U.S. spends twice as much as some other countries in covering those drugs. Medicare Part B drug spending topped $33 billion in 2021.

More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order.

Trump’s post formally previewing the action came after he teased a “very big announcement” last week. He gave no details, except to note that it wasn’t related to trade or the tariffs he has announced imposing on much of the world.

“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make — like as big as it gets,” Trump said last week.

He came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder” and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.

On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that the “Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE.”

Referring to drug companies’ powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions “can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”

“We are going to do the right thing,” he wrote.

Minnesota lawmakers are moving to strengthen the state’s laws on people who repeatedly drink and drive in the wake of a crash last year that killed two people and injured many others at a bar in St. Louis Park.

The hope is that future tragedies will be prevented by making more repeat drunken drivers use ignition interlock devices. The devices require drivers to blow air into a tube to verify whether they are under the legal blood-alcohol limit before starting a vehicle.

On Labor Day weekend in 2024, a man with a history of convictions for drinking and driving drove his vehicle into the patio of Park Tavern, leading to multiple deaths and injuries.

Steven Frane Bailey, 56, of St. Louis Park, who pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and three counts of criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm on Wednesday, said he had been drinking vodka at home before the crash.

He said he drove to the Park Tavern but attempted to flee the parking lot after crashing into two cars. Instead, he accelerated and went through a fence onto the patio while going around 40 mph, crashing into occupied tables.

Charges said Bailey had a blood-alcohol content of 0.335% — more than four times the legal limit of .08%. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he faces 25 to 30 years in prison.

Ignition interlock

If a widely supported proposal moving through the state Legislature this year becomes law, Bailey would have been required to have an ignition interlock device in his vehicle, which could have stopped him from driving, backers say.

Minnesota law currently requires people to get one of the devices if their driving privileges are revoked for a second alcohol or drug offense within ten years. The state also requires an ignition interlock if someone has had their third offense, if one or two of the offenses are over ten years old.

Bailey had a valid driver’s license, but he also had five convictions for driving under the influence between 1985 and 2015. Since his record spanned more than three decades before the fatal crash last year, he wasn’t required to have a device installed in his car, bill backers said.

“It spurred us, those of us who represent St. Louis Park in the Legislature, to look for appropriate improvements to the DWI laws so that this could be prevented in the future,” said bill sponsor Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park. “Unfortunately, not everyone who should use the ignition interlock is on it.”

Increases lookback period

Latz said his bill could reduce the likelihood of fatal crashes like the one at Park Tavern.

It increases the lookback period for driving while intoxicated convictions from 10 to 20 years. It also ties the time requirement for interlock devices to the number of DWIs over a lifetime.

Right now, the time requirement maxes out at six years when someone has four or more DWIs over a lifetime. Under the new bill, an interlock device would be required for 10 years if someone had 3 or more convictions.

The bill also aims to get more people to participate in the interlock program by removing financial barriers. It allows people to pay off the $680 license reinstatement fee while participating in the interlock program rather than upfront.

It also increases criminal penalties for driving without an interlock if you’re required to have one. And there would also be a requirement that someone completes treatment for addiction before graduating from the interlock program, rather than just beginning treatment.

Senate passes version of bill

The Senate took up the House version last week but unanimously passed a slightly different version of the bill.

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An amendment backed by Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, and adopted by the Senate creates protections for people in the interlock program who lose their vehicles for financial reasons. If someone loses their vehicle or if it becomes inoperable, they’d be able to remain in the interlock program.

The House also overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill, backed by Rep. Larry Kraft, DFL-St. Louis Park.

The chambers will have to reconcile out the small differences between their bills and pass them again before a final version can head to the desk of Gov. Tim Walz to be signed into law.

The Twins saw their lead disappear in the eighth inning and fell behind two innings later.

No matter. These days, the Twins are finding ways and everybody’s doing their part.

On Sunday, that meant DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who was hitting just .067 in limited at-bats this season, hitting a walk-off knock, to send the Twins to a 7-6 win over the San Francisco Giants in extra innings in the series finale at Target Field.

The single, which brought home Brooks Lee, snapped an 0-for-17 stretch for the outfielder and was the first walk-off hit of the rookie’s career. With it, the Twins finished off a perfect homestand and have now won eight-straight games. They sit over .500 for the first time all season.

Keirsey’s heroics came after the Twins tied the game minutes earlier when the automatic runner, Ty France, came around to score on a ground ball hit by Ryan Jeffers, matching the Giants, who scored their own auto runner in the top half of the inning.

The Twins spent much of the day battling back after falling behind early.

Starter Pablo López may not have been at his best, but he did depart the game with the Twins leading. López loaded the bases in the first inning but was able to minimize the damage, thanks in part to a nice sliding catch from Willi Castro, which limited what could have been a two-run Heliot Ramos hit to a sacrifice fly.

The starter gave up two more runs in the fourth inning on a Ramos opposite-field home run and a fourth run in the fifth, which scored on a sacrifice fly after he balked the runner over to third.

The Twins used a somewhat similar formula to score their early runs.

A two-run home run of their own — theirs from Lee in the fourth — cut into the Giants’ lead and then Byron Buxton’s sacrifice fly sliced into it once more in the fifth.

They broke through once more in the sixth when, after loading the bases with no outs, Royce Lewis broke out of an 0-for-36 stretch with his first hit of the year. The go-ahead run scored on Harrison Bader’s fielder’s choice and the Twins held that lead until the Giants stormed back in the eighth with a run off reliever Griffin Jax.