Lewis lands on IL with knee sprain, Laweryson to miss time with forearm strain

TORONTO -- Between cold weather, injuries, and now illness, the Twins have been fighting on every front lately.

The former obstacle needs no further detailing. The latter, a major early-season pothole they'll be tasked to drive out of: An IL stint for Royce Lewis.

According to Twins manager Derek Shelton, Lewis woke up with soreness in his left knee after tweaking it in his final at-bat Thursday vs. Detroit. He was not in the lineup for Friday night's 10-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, and after the game, Shelton announced he'd be headed to the 10-day injured list after an MRI revealed a sprain.

That wasn't their only hurdle Friday.

Righty reliever Cody Laweryson was also added to the 15-day IL with a right forearm strain, while starter Simeon Woods Richardson's rough outing received some color after Shelton told reporters he'd been vomiting pregame.

Ailments and all, the Twins managed to look whole Friday -- at least early.

They controlled the game with crisp at-bats at its outset, and Woods Richardson cruised through the first three innings on the mound. But the game turned quickly after that, as Toronto strung together four runs and forced the young right-hander out before he saw the fifth.

"He's not gonna make any excuses for this, but he ate something really bad today, so he was throwing up pregame," Shelton said, adding that it became clear his starter was wearing down as the outing progressed.

“After the third, he wasn't in a great spot. We were hoping to get more out of him, and it just looked like he kind of ran out of gas. ... He was not in a good spot today."

Woods Richardson finished with four innings, 68 pitches, and five earned runs allowed on five hits. He took the loss, but catcher Ryan Jeffers credited his pitcher for gutting it out despite being under the weather.

“He was out there grinding,” Jeffers said of Woods Richardson. “He was giving us everything he had out there. He looked really good for the majority of his outing.”

Jeffers did his part in helping his batterymate offensively.

Two first-inning singles off Blue Jays starter Patrick Corbin set the table for catcher Jeffers, a hitter still looking for his rhythm at the plate. The 28-year-old entered Friday batting .226 with a .290 slugging percentage, but he needed only one pitch to change the tone of his night.

He unloaded on a middle-middle offering from Corbin and drove it into the left-center field seats for a Statcast-projected 419-foot shot. Jeffers paused to admire it before beginning his trot, giving the Twins an early jolt and continuing a remarkable trend in Toronto.

With the first-inning blast, Minnesota has now homered in 24 straight games at Rogers Centre dating back to 2017, launching 51 home runs in that span.

Shelton enjoyed what he saw from his slugging catcher.

“[He had] really good at-bats throughout the entire game,” Shelton said of Jeffers, who finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs. “Overall, it looks like he’s taking really good, aggressive swings.”

And the Twins catcher wasn’t the only one who earned a casual trot around the bases. In the top of the fourth frame, his teammate Brooks Lee -- fresh off a clutch hit in Thursday’s win -- mashed his first blast of the season off Corbin.

Still, the bright spots don't dissipate what's been a murky 24 hours for Minnesota.

Shelton said his club will announce corresponding moves Saturday, but in the meantime, this Twins club gets another set of obstacles to overcome. Minnesota has crafted a resilient identity, digging through physical pain and the misery of some cold, rain-soaked games in early April.

While the losses of Lewis and Laweryson will loom large, this is a long season, and Minnesota is built to battle.

“I think every game in April is pretty easy to flush,” Jeffers said. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. These things happen. So I think we turn the page and get back after tomorrow.”