Final Score: MIN 4 | KC 1

Overall Record: 0-1

Winning/Losing Pitcher

• W: Pablo Lopez (1-0 | 1.29 ERA)
• L: Cole Ragans (0-1 | 3.00 ERA)
• SV: Griffin Jax (1)

ROYALS PLAYER OF THE GAME 

Cole Ragans, 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K

It was easy to see why Cole Ragans was the player of the game in this one. He did exactly what you would want from your ace on Opening Day. Ragans was dialed in from the beginning outside a solo home run to Royce Lewis in the first. Some soft hits and a double by Carlos Correa hurt him in the third, and he gave up his second run. Outside those two moments, Ragans was electric and went toe-to-toe with Twins’ ace Pablo Lopez. His fastball was consistently 97 mph, even late into the sixth inning. He was able to generate plenty of Whiff as he got swing-and-miss 19 times. Regardless of the loss, you want to see this from Ragans to start the season. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Maikel Garcia excited the fans early, jumping on the game’s third pitch to launch it out of the park. He quieted the bat after that, but it was a strong start from the Royals’ leadoff hitter. Outside of Maikel, the rest of the lineup was very quiet. The entire lineup struggled to make any noise against Pablo Lopez. MJ Melendez hit a leadoff double in the second, which gave you some hope that some more offense might be coming, but Hunter Renfroe grounded out, Adam Frazier popped out, and then Nelson Velazquez struck out. 

The only other story that came out of this game was how good the bullpen was outside of Chris Stratton. Nick Anderson pitched a clean seventh inning, and Angel Zerpa went one inning while striking out two and giving up two hits. Stratton came into the ninth to try to hold the Twins to their 2-1 lead to give the Royals a shot in the bottom of the ninth, but unfortunately, he struggled a bit. He gave a leadoff hit to Kiriloff and then struggled with his command, walking both Byron Buxton and Edouard Julien. Correa then singled to bust the game open and give the Twins a 4-1 lead. The Royals came up empty in the bottom of the ninth. 

SUMMARY OF THE NEXT GAME

The Royals hope to generate more offense in game two but will face a challenging task as Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (0-0) will take the bump. Seth Lugo (0-0) will make his Royals regular-season debut on the bump. They Royals signed Lugo to be a major part of the rotation this offseason.