CLEVELAND — Eight games. Three grand slams. One division title perhaps inching ever closer.

This is Royce Lewis’ first playoff chase, with the former No. 1 overall pick finally having overcome two years’ worth of ACL injuries to unleash his talent on the league. It’s turned into one of the grandest first impressions the game has ever seen.

That’s because Lewis extended his surreal run of bases-loaded success with his third grand slam in a little more than a week to punctuate the Twins’ five-run second inning against the Guardians at Progressive Field on Monday. And then, the Twins kept adding, and adding, and adding, all the way to a 20-6 rout in the opener of what was expected to be a defining series for the American League Central.

Instead, the Twins removed any doubt early as they extended their divisional lead to six games with 24 to go and only two head-to-head matchups remaining. The Guardians have the advantage for the tiebreaker by leading the season series, 6-5.