Royce Lewis will come to regret giving Guardians truly dumb bulletin-board material

Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis may want to think before he speaks in the middle of a chasing the Cleveland Guardians at the top of the AL Central.

On Tuesday, Lewis gave the division rivals a truck-load of unnecessary bulletin board material by openly predicting a Guardians skid.

"The Guardians aren't the Yankees of old so they're about to have a downfall eventually," Lewis said, per Audra Martin of Bally Sports.

Lewis is still young at 25 years old and playing in only his third MLB campaign. It would be tempting to say he doesn't know any better. But let's be real, he should know better. Talk like that in the clubhouse or with family and friends. Never be so candid with a reporter! This is basic media literacy, bud.

Poorly-timed Royce Lewis injury follows shot at Guardians

Karma may have had a say a little while later when Lewis had to leave Tuesday's game against the Tigers with an apparent injury.

The Twins' ability to truly challenge the Guardians does partly depend on Lewis keeping up his blazing hot form. He's slashing .287/.351/.678 with an OPS+ of 185 in 23 games this season.

The news after the game wasn't great though. He told reporters he's "not optimistic" about this groin injury, already worrying over a stint on the IL. No official word has come from Minnesota but it seems probable they will have to play without Lewis potentially through the All-Star break.

So Lewis' teammates are going to have to cash the check he just wrote without his help, for the time being at least.

The Twins beat the Tigers, 5-3, but they didn't gain any ground on the Guardians, who walked off the White Sox, 7-6. Coming out of Tuesday night, the gap between Cleveland and Minnesota is still six games.