Minnesota Twins’ winning streak ends at 13 after Brewers rob Royce Lewis of tying home run

MILWAUKEE – Royce Lewis, who hit his first homer of the season in the fourth inning Sunday, came to the plate as the tying run in the eighth. It had all the makings of another dramatic moment for the hottest team in baseball when he drove a fly ball to center.

Brewers center fielder Jackson Chourio had other plans.

Chourio leapt and reached his glove above the wall, robbing Lewis of a tying homer. With it, the Twins lost for the first time since May 2 in a 5-2 defeat to Milwaukee at American Family Field, ending their 13-game winning streak.

“If he doesn’t catch that, I think we win the game, for sure,” Lewis said. “It changes the momentum. When a pitcher is smiling because he knows he got away with one, you know you’re in a good spot.”

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli spoke to players in the visiting clubhouse for a quick team meeting after the second-longest winning streak in team history ended. During the streak, the Twins (26-21) turned a 13-20 record into a team that owns the fourth-best record in the American League.

“An amazing run over the last two weeks,” Baldelli said. “I had to tell the guys that after the game. There is a lot of work to be done, and I told them we’re just scratching the surface as far as what we’re capable of this year. That was just a great run of baseball. One of the best two-week spans of baseball I’ve ever been a part of in my life.”

Trailing by two runs in the eighth inning, Kody Clemens lined a leadoff double in the right-field corner. Lewis struck out in his previous at-bat on a 100-mph sinker from Abner Uribe, and he thought it made everything from reliever Nick Mears look a little slower.

Lewis connected on a high 94-mph fastball, sending the ball toward the Milwaukee bullpen in left-center, but Chourio timed his jump and stole the ball with his glove atop the wall. Lewis raised his helmet in appreciation for the catch.

“If that ball ends up in the bullpen, the way we’ve been playing, our guys feel like we’re going to win the game,” Baldelli said.

Lewis added: “I felt like I had a great at-bat and did all you could do. That’s life, and baseball especially.”

The Twins were a swing away from tying the game after starting pitcher Zebby Matthews, who made his season debut, pitched only three innings. Matthews gave up five hits and four runs, but he was particularly stung by three consecutive two-out walks in a 43-pitch third.

Matthews struck out the first two batters in the third inning. He’s gone months in the minor leagues without issuing three walks, let alone three batters in a row.

With the bases loaded, Maple Grove native Isaac Collins dumped a first-pitch fastball into shallow center field for a two-run single. Sal Frelick, in a 3-1 count, followed with a line drive through the middle of the infield for an RBI single to give the Brewers a four-run lead in front of an announced crowd of 30,018.

The Brewers scored a run in the second inning with three singles, ending the Twins pitching staff’s team-record 34-inning scoreless streak.

“To be a swing away from tying it there, it shows the resilience of the team,” Matthews said. “I’ve just got to be better on my part there.”

Lewis drilled a solo homer on a fastball that caught the middle of the plate in the fourth inning off Brewers starter Freddy Peralta. Lewis carried his bat more than halfway up the first-base line as he watched his 417-foot laser zip past the left field wall.

“He’s rounding himself into form,” Baldelli said of Lewis, who also made a couple of highlight defensive plays at third. “He looks really twitchy at the plate. That bat looks like it’s really whistling through the zone. I think he feels good just by judging his mannerisms and swings.”

BOXSCORE: Milwaukee 5, Twins 2

MLB standings

Following Lewis’ homer, the Twins loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth inning through two walks and an error, but Ryan Jeffers flew out to right field.

Brooks Lee hit a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning, setting the stage for Chourio’s stunning grab in the eighth. The Brewers added a run off Jorge Alcala in the bottom of the inning, ending the Twins bullpen’s 21-inning scoreless streak.

“We had a great two weeks there,” Lewis said. “That was really awesome, and for me to be a part of it with these guys is special. We’re just going to keep going. We’re just getting started.”