Twins open season with 4-1 victory over Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Twins hope to repeat as AL Central champions this year. Except for the first batter he faced, Pablo López did his part Thursday by duplicating the near-perfect start to the 2023 season.

López surrendered a leadoff home run to Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia, but then smothered Kansas City for seven solid innings, and the Twins opened the 2024 season with a 4-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium.

The win marked the fifth time in six tries the Twins have opened a season by beating the Royals, including all four opening days they've spent in this ballpark. And Lopez, who limited K.C. to two hits over 5 1/3 innings in his Twins debut last March, was almost as sparkling to open his second season.

It didn't look like it at first. Garcia took a ball, then swung and missed a fastball. When López put his next pitch, an 83-mph sweeper, in almost the exact same spot, Garcia launched a high fly ball that landed in the Twins' bullpen.

But López shrugged off the mistake, and gave up only three more hits and no walks over seven complete innings, retiring the final eight hitters he faced. No Royal ever reached third base after Garcia's blast.

The Twins were better against Kansas City left-hander Cole Ragans, but only marginally. And they may have suffered a far greater loss than one game.

Royce Lewis, making his first opening day start, hit the sixth pitch of the season from Ragans into the fountain beyond the wall in left-center. Two innings later, he lined a two-out single into left field. When Carlos Correa followed with a double into the left-field corner, Manuel Margot scored from second base.

But Lewis, speeding up as he rounded second base in hopes of scoring, too, suddenly slowed down and limped into third. He was removed from the game with what the Twins said was a right quad injury.

Max Kepler also left the game early, removed after apparently suffering a leg injury during his eighth-inning at-bat.

The Twins added a pair of insurance runs against K.C. right-hander Chris Stratton in the ninth inning, with Alex Kirilloff scoring on a passed ball by Salvador Perez, and Byron Buxton on an infield hit by Correa.

Until that point, though, the game evolved into a pitcher's duel reminiscent of López's 2-0 win here one year ago. Ragans wound up with nine strikeouts, setting a Royals opening day record, while López whiffed seven, finishing his outing by freezing Hunter Renfroe with a third-strike sweeper at the bottom of the strike zone.

Brock Stewart pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing only a single to Kyle Isbel, and Griffin Jax filled in for injured closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth, earning his first save of the season and sixth of his career.