Royce Lewis is just as tired of being injured as you might expect, and he's ready to try anything to avoid it.
"I've made significant changes. I've spent a lot of money on my body. I've been doing everything I possibly can," the Twins third baseman said Thursday, one day after going on the injured list because of a strained right adductor muscle. "If someone said, 'Hey, if you smoke cigarettes like Babe Ruth and that'll work,' then I'll do that, too. I'm open to anything."
Lewis arrives at the ballpark five to six hours before games, he said, and is devoted to pregame work intended to prevent injuries. That also means "being away from family, taking time away from communicating with family or friends, and basically not living a life," he said. All that "to eventually just get hurt [again]."
Doctors believe the injury is a consequence of the quad injury he suffered in March, that it's other muscles compensating for the strength that has returned slowly to the quad. He began feeling some tightness before Tuesday's game, though "it never got over a three or four on the pain scale," he said. "It was something I was able to manage. And then when I got a hit, I started jogging — I swear I wasn't even running hard yet — and I noticed, 'Oh, that is significantly tighter.' It probably went up to a seven or eight on that scale, out of 10. And then that's when I let the staff know. I was hoping we caught it ahead of time. Unfortunately, it was a Grade 2 strain."
Still, the news could have been a lot worse.
"Well, I'm not playing today, so I would say yeah, it's bad news," Lewis said. "But it feels great. Today, it felt very loose, like I can go play DH. But you know, you've got to be available for the field."
Advance warning
The Twins had a lot of heroes in Thursday's 12-3 victory over the Tigers — Jose Miranda, Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober — but as far as the team's front office was concerned, the individual who deserved much of the credit was head groundskeeper Larry DiVito.
It was DiVito who brought Thursday's forecast to the attention of both teams, the umpires and Major League Baseball on Tuesday. Rain will halt the game, probably for good, by 3 p.m. at the latest, he told all parties, and the scheduled first pitch of 1:10 p.m. could make it unlikely that they could play the five innings necessary for an official game.
By Wednesday, the MLB approved the Twins' plan to move the start time up to 12:10 p.m. in order to play more of the game in dry conditions.
"Moving the game up ended up being the right decision — in a big way," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We were going to play this game until we couldn't play anymore, and when we shut it down, it was the right time to shut it down."
That time was 2:28 p.m., about 40 minutes after the rain began. The rain grew heavier by then and began pooling on the infield dirt, and footing was becoming treacherous.
Aronson's call-up
Sean Aronson, play-by-play broadcaster for the St. Paul Saints since 2007, will join the Twins' radio booth during the team's six-game trip to Chicago and San Francisco next week.
Aronson, 47, will fill in for Kris Atteberry, who preceded him as Saints broadcaster, and work alongside radio analyst Dan Gladden during Atteberry's midseason break, the team announced. It's Aronson's first major league promotion after calling more than 2,600 minor league games for the Saints, Fort Myers Miracle and Allentown (Pa.) Ambassadors.
"I've dreamt about this moment my entire broadcasting career," Aronson said.
Etc.
• David Festa, who has given up 12 runs over 10 innings in his two starts for the Twins, will return to Class AAA St. Paul on Friday. Festa's next turn in the rotation would have been Monday at the White Sox, but Chris Paddack is eligible to come off the injured list that day.
• Josh Winder will be recalled from St. Paul. The 27-year-old righthander has a 4.78 ERA in 26 innings over 15 games for the Saints. He pitched in 19 games last season for the Twins.
• No official transaction has been reported, but former top pitching prospect Jordan Balazovic reportedly left the Twins organization to sign with the Doosan Bears of South Korea's KBO League. Balazovic, 25, made his Twins debut last year but was 5-4 with a 5.60 ERA in 24 appearances with the Saints this year. The Saints also re-signed a pair of righthanders who pitched for the Twins earlier this year in Matt Bowman and Diego Castillo.
• Louie Varland gave up two runs on four hits and three walks in 2⅔ innings — and briefly played in left field — for the Saints in a rain-delayed 11-0 loss to Gwinnett at CHS Field. Varland switched places with left fielder Chris Williams with two out and the bases loaded in the first inning, after Varland had thrown 42 pitches. Varland returned to the mound in second inning and gave up a home run on his first pitch. Because of the switch, the Saints played the entire game without a designated hitter.
