Help me wrap my head around this.

Guitar Jones said
More than a few times I've just taken the car out and ran it a little hard. Noise usually goes away after a little bit.

x2. If the lifter plunger was pushed deeper, it may not be as quick coming back. Drive it a little, rev it a little, and see if it goes away. If not, you could pull those two and look for debris or broken parts.