The following years, he made steady progress through the Twins' organization spending 1982 at class-A Visalia, 1983 at AA Orlando, and 1984 at AAA Toledo.

Lombardozzi also knocked in the winning run in Game 6 as his RBI single broke up a 5th Inning 5–5 tie that eventually lead to an 11-6 Twins' victory.

[6] Following both the 1987 and 1988 seasons, the Twins, looking to add some more offense at the position, traded first for Cardinal Tommy Herr and then New York Mets second baseman Wally Backman.

Being the odd man out, Lombardozzi split time at second in 1988 and finally was traded to the Houston Astros at the end of spring training in 1989 (for career minor league outfielder Roman Cedeno).

[9] His son, Steve Lombardozzi Jr., formerly played professionally for the Washington Nationals organization and then the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League.