Royce Lewis' 2 HRs Sink Blue Jays as Twins Fans Celebrate 1st Playoff Win Since 2004

Royce Lewis broke the Minnesota Twins' 18-game playoff losing streak in grand fashion on Tuesday by smacking two home runs in a 3-1 home victory over the Toronto Blue Jays to kick off their American League Wild Card Series.

Lewis gave the Twins all the runs they needed in the first inning with a two-run shot to left field off Jays starter Kevin Gausman.

Two innings later, Lewis delivered an encore with an opposite-field homer to give Minnesota the 3-0 edge:

With that homer, the rookie joined a few exclusive lists, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Toronto got on the board in the sixth after a two-out Kevin Kiermaier single, putting Matt Chapman at the dish as the go-ahead run with Alejandro Kirk on second. Chapman sent the ball to deep center field, but Michael A. Taylor was there to rob him of a potential game-tying extra-base hit:

Toronto only managed one hit and one walk for the remainder of the game, and Minnesota hung on for the win.

The Twins hadn't won a playoff game since Oct. 5, 2004, when ace pitcher Johan Santana led Minnesota to a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. New York proceeded to win the next three games to knock Minnesota out of the playoffs.

Minnesota then found itself on the losing end of three-game ALDS sweeps in 2006, 2009 and 2010. The Twins fell to the Yanks in the AL Wild Card Game in 2017 before losing to New York again in a three-game sweep in the 2019 ALDS. The Houston Astros then beat the Twins in a two-game AL Wild Card Series in 2020.

That span marked the longest playoff losing streak in the history of American "Big Four" sports, but it's all over now after Lewis' heroics. The pitching was stellar as well with Pablo Lopez earning the win after 5.2 innings of one-run ball. Four Twins relievers then combined for 3.1 shutout frames.

In the end, the story was Lewis' phenomenal performance and the Twins exorcising some old playoff demons in one fell swoop.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series will take place in Minneapolis' Target Field on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. ET. A Minnesota win means a date with the No. 2 seed Houston Astros in the ALDS. A loss will mean a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday.