Royce Lewis homered twice and drove in four runs as the Minnesota Twins beat the sloppy Los Angeles Angels 12-3 on Monday night.
James Outman also went deep as the Twins moved to 4-0 against the Angels this season, outscoring them 33-7.
Los Angeles committed four errors, including two by third baseman Yoan Moncada.
Lewis' first homer grazed off the tip of Bryce Teodosio's glove at the center field wall in the second. It was the first game in what is basically Lewis' hometown. He grew up about 25 miles from Angel Stadiium.
"Oh, it was the best night ever," Lewis said. "It was awesome. You know, you can't write this stuff up, you can't make it up. It's so amazing and I'm just blessed to have that opportunity."
Simeon Woods Richardson (6-4) allowed three runs and struck out six in five innings. Travis Adams struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief.
Luke Keaschall had an RBI single, Matt Wallner had a two-run double, and Austin Martin doubled and scored three runs. The Twins were still 4 for 18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
Angels starter Caden Dana (0-1) struck out a career-high nine, walked five and allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings. Sebastián Rivero had an RBI double in his first major league game in almost three years.
Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli gave a lot of credit for Lewis and his hometown energy for the way the Twins played. Lewis has had a difficult year. Coming in with high expectations as he is finally healthy again, Lewis has struggled with consistency at the plate. But he seems to have broken out of a long slump now.
"Huge day for him," said Baldelli. "He looked really sharp and focused, even pregame, you know. I think the emotion of being here, out in California around his family, he had a big contingent sitting directly across from us in the dugout so we could see them right behind Royce while he's hitting. And they were pretty fired up and 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. It was one of those days that you don't forget. He did a really nice job out there."
Key moment
Lewis' second home run made it 5-3 in the fifth and gave the Twins the lead for good as the Orange County native put on a show in his homecoming.
Key stat
It was Lewis' third career multi-homer game. He did it on July 20 at Colorado and in Game 1 of a 2023 American League wild card playoff series against Toronto.
Royce also goes purple?
In the photo on top of the article you'll see Royce Lewis wearing some Viking-themed cleats, and showing some love for the other hometown team in Minneapolis playing on Monday Night Football. It was a 27-24 win for the Vikings in Chicago, so will we see more purple cleats from Lewis?
"Minnesota won today, as a whole, so that was pretty special," said Lewis. "But yeah, I'll stick with it on Sundays for sure."
Up next
RHP Zebby Matthews (4-4, 4.73 ERA) starts for the Twins and RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-9, 4.81) takes the mound for the Angels as the series continues on Tuesday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.