Lewis welcomed back from injured list

TWINS REPORT

Third baseman returns from rehab assignment with St. Paul

The Twins’ Royce Lewis (23) returned to the Minnesota lineup on Tuesday in Miami after his second stint on the disabled list, this one for a strained hamstring. ABBIE PARR — ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Betsy Helfand

bhelfand@pioneerpress.com

When Royce Lewis pulled up at first base in pain a couple of weeks ago in Houston, it evoked fears of a more serious injury, much like the one he suffered a few months back. On the same type of play, Lewis strained his left hamstring while running during a spring training game, and it cost him the first 35 games of the season.

But pretty quickly after the second injury occurred on June 14, the Twins said they believed the hamstring injury to be mild, and on Tuesday Lewis was activated from the injured list. Lewis went 1 for 3 on Tuesday in the Twins’ first game in Miami against the Marlins, a 2-0 loss in which the Twins collected just two hits.

The move has been all-but-official for days because the Twins made the corresponding move to clear a space on the roster on Sunday night, when the Twins designated infielder Jonah Bride for assignment.

Acquired for cash from the Marlins in April, Bride was hitting .208 with a .511 OPS while playing sparingly. Notably, he pitched in four games for the Twins, handling six innings of mop-up duty.

Lewis returns after spending the weekend playing for Triple-A St. Paul, where he went 0 for 8. After going through an 0-for-36 stretch earlier in his season, Lewis had been hitting .393 with three extra-base hits in the nine games before his injury.

Because of the two hamstring injuries, Lewis has played in just 30 games for the Twins, entering Tuesday hitting .202 with a .585 OPS. During his latest absence, Brooks Lee saw a majority of the playing time at third base.

On Tuesday, Lee was in the lineup at second base with Lewis back at third, hitting eighth.

Futures for Culpepper

Kaelen Culpepper’s solid start to his minor league career has earned him a trip to the Futures Game later this month in Atlanta.

Culpepper, drafted by the Twins 21st overall in the 2024 draft, began his season at Class-A Advanced Cedar Rapids, where he hit .293 with nine home runs, 34 runs batted in, 15 stolen bases and 63 hits in 54 games before earning a promotion.

Entering Tuesday, in eight games at Double-A, the shortstop was hitting .273 with a pair of home runs.

Culpepper, the Twins’ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is their only representative at the game, which will take place at 3 p.m. CDT on July 12 at Truist Park, days before the All-Star Game is held there.