Royce Lewis hopes his stint on the injured list will be brief.

The Minnesota Twins third baseman told reporters in Toronto that his left knee feels better, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Lewis from being placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday. Reliever Cody Laweryson (right forearm strain) also was placed on the IL with Lewis, who was diagnosed with a Grade 1 lateral collateral ligament strain after undergoing an MRI, according to a Twins official.

“If I could, I’d be playing, probably (Sunday),” Lewis said. “But it just wasn’t smart to push it. … If I played through it, I probably would have made things worse long-term, and I’m looking ahead to the next 140 games.”

The Twins recalled infielder Ryan Kreidler and pitching prospect Andrew Morris to replace Lewis and Laweryson, who posted a 4.26 ERA with a save and eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

Showing more patience than ever, Lewis is batting .222/.378/.444 with two home runs, eight RBIs and eight walks in his first 45 plate appearances. His 17.8 percent walk rate is nearly triple last year’s 6.2 percent and up more than 10 percent from his career rate (7.3 percent).

Lewis’ injury occurred during a game-winning rally in the eighth inning of Thursday’s victory over the Detroit Tigers, when his cleat appeared to get caught in the dirt near home plate as he swung at a pitch. The 26-year-old slugger immediately hobbled and was attended to during a brief delay before returning to the batter’s box.

Lewis then extended the rally with an infield single and ran from first base to third base on Brooks Lee’s go-ahead single. Though he felt uncomfortable while running, Lewis said his knee didn’t hurt. But Lewis was held out of the lineup for Friday’s 10-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays and underwent an MRI after reporting soreness.

Lewis is the first Minnesota position player to go on the IL this season. If the Twins are to rebound from two disappointing seasons, they believe a healthy Lewis will play a prominent role.

Given his injury history, Lewis and the Twins likely breathed a sigh of relief when his MRI revealed a Grade 1 strain, the least severe diagnosis.

Lewis missed the Twins’ first 35 games last season after suffering a left hamstring strain during spring training. A year earlier, Lewis missed 58 games with a right quadriceps strain that he aggravated while running the bases on Opening Day.

Lewis also missed the entire 2021 season and parts of 2022 and 2023 after tearing the ACL in his right knee twice. He also went on the IL near the end of the 2023 season with a hamstring strain, returning in time for the postseason.

Laweryson was a surprising addition to the 26-man roster at the end of spring training. He beat out minor-league invitees Dan Altavilla and Matt Bowman for the final spot in the bullpen. The Twins cited Laweryson’s velocity gain — his average fastball jumped from 92.4 mph to 93.7 mph — over his final two spring outings as the reason they added the right-hander.

After allowing four runs (three earned) in his season debut on April 1, Laweryson produced five scoreless innings over his past four appearances, including a five-out save Monday in a win over Detroit.

Known for his strong defensive ability, Kreidler was in the mix for a final roster spot until Tristan Gray claimed the opening.

The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman ranked Morris as the No. 11 prospect in the Twins organization earlier this year. In two games at Triple A, Morris posted a 1.23 ERA with five strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings.