ANAHEIM -- Entering Monday, Royce Lewis had played just one game at Angel Stadium -- in high school. Lewis, then a 160 pound shortstop prospect out of JSerra Catholic in San Juan Capistrano, hit a fly ball to right-center that died in the outfield.
He couldn’t help but think it would’ve been a homer if they had been playing at his home field.
After going yard twice in the Twins’ 12-3 win over the Angels in his homecoming, Lewis doesn’t have to wonder anymore.
“It was even better than I could have expected,” he said. “It was really special to be here and do something like that with all my family in attendance. It was really cool.”
He turned on the second pitch of his first Major League at-bat at Angel Stadium -- a slider from Halos starter Caden Dana that caught a little too much of the plate -- and sent it to straightaway center field. The ball carried. And carried, and carried.
Bryce Teodosio went up for the robbery attempt, but the ball sailed right over his outstretched glove for Lewis’ 11th home run of the season and the first of his career at Angel Stadium, a 25-minute drive up the road from where he grew up in Aliso Viejo.
Lewis turned and pointed to his teammates in the dugout as he rounded first. Then, as he rounded third, he passed one of the several sections where a large contingent of his family -- at least 30 people, by Lewis’ estimate -- were seated and pointed at them before touching home plate.
“You could see it coming back to the dugout how it made him feel to be able to go out there and do what he did,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It was one of those days that you don’t forget. He did a real nice job out there.”
Lewis added another two-run shot in the top of the fifth inning, driving a fastball inside down the left-field line as it easily cleared the fence to break the 3-3 tie. It was the second multi-homer game of his career; the first one came earlier this season on July 20 at Colorado.
Nothing beats the Southern California air for Lewis. Everywhere he’s traveled in his big league career to this point -- New York, Chicago, even his new home in Minneapolis -- nothing compares in his eyes.
“We go all over the country,” he said. “And every time I go somewhere, I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s still not as good as Southern California.’”
His ties to the area run deep.
Lewis was three years old, sitting on his dad’s lap on an October night at Angel Stadium in 2002. He doesn’t physically remember much about that night aside from the picture of the two of them, watching as Barry Bonds hit a nuke off of Troy Percival in the World Series.
“ I got a lot of memories here,” he said.
Growing up in San Juan Capistrano, Lewis fell in love watching the Angels, a perennial AL contender in the mid-to-late 2000s. It was their lineup that featured the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Garrett Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. The way they made plays on defense. How they fed off each other and executed throughout 162 games.
It’s the things that Lewis didn’t know at the time, but now knows from his own experience as a big leaguer. Knowing that you’re going to make plenty of mistakes over the course of a season, but still showing up every day, playing as hard as you can.
It’s also where Lewis was first introduced to Torii Hunter, a Twins legend who he now considers a close mentor. Whether it’s in the batting cage, on a golf course, or at Hunter’s barbecue shop, Lewis seeks out his perspective whenever he can.
“He’s like a second dad to me,” Lewis said of Hunter. “It’s been really, really amazing what he and his family have done for me. I mean, his son is my best friend. It’s family ties now.”
Since making his MLB debut with the Twins in 2023, Lewis has played close to home a few times in San Diego and Los Angeles, but he’s had his Orange County homecoming circled on his calendar for three years.
He made it worth the wait.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Lewis said. “I made my dream come true, and I’m still living it out each and every day. Just to have a smile on my face and do it in front of them and see them so happy and proud of me, that’s truly what it means to live your life out and live your dream out.”