Minnesota Twins third base coach Tommy Watkins, left, congratulates Royce Lewis, right, who circles the bases after hitting a solo home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Ryan Rolison in the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Lewis hits 2 homers and Ryan strikes out 11 as Twins top Rockies to avert series sweep

DENVER (AP) — Royce Lewis hit two home runs — his first career multihomer game — and Joe Ryan struck out 11 in seven innings as the Minnesota Twins beat the Colorado Rockies 7-1 on Sunday to prevent a three-game sweep.

Coming off his first All-Star appearance, Ryan (10-4) gave up one run and five hits with no walks. The right-hander worked a scoreless fourth inning with two strikeouts in the All-Star Game last Tuesday night at Atlanta.

Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Twins.

Matt Wallner hit a two-run homer off starter Germán Márquez (3-11) in the third and Harrison Bader added a solo shot for the Twins.

Willi Castro tripled leading off the ninth and scored on a throwing error by shortstop Orlando Arcia to make it 7-1.

Mickey Moniak homered in the third for Colorado. Jordan Beck and Ryan McMahon each had two hits.

Key moment

Castro drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a groundout by Carlos Correa and scored on a triple by Kody Clemens before Wallner’s homer gave the Twins a 3-1 lead in the third.

Key stats

Minnesota racked up 12 hits — six for extra bases — and Twins pitchers had 13 strikeouts.

Up next

The Twins hadn’t announced a starter yet for Monday against Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 1.00 ERA) and the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

The Rockies begin a three-game set against St. Louis.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Minnesota Twins’ Christian Vázquez, right, congratulates Royce Lewis (23) after Lewis’ solo home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Ryan Rolison in the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan works against the Colorado Rockies in the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Minnesota Twins’ Matt Wallner follows the flight of his two-run home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Germán Márquez in the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Minnesota Twins’ Harrison Bader follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Ryan Rolison in the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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