Reusse: A bobblehead-driven Twins crowd sticks around for another walk-off win with a load of intrigue

There were a few seconds when the thousands of customers who lined up Saturday morning to get a Royce Lewis bobblehead were hopeful that they had received another reward from the Twins’ still-popular and currently sub-.200 batter.

This keepsake of Lewis in one of those gaudy blue jerseys was so popular that a report was received of the line on the street stretching south past Target Center.

This testimony came from Dick Jonckowski, famed emcee, memorabilia collector and bargain hunter. If Dick paid for gas to travel all the way from Shakopee to stand in a long line, you can be assured this was an extra-popular promotional item.

As it turned out, the Twins were able to announce the first plus-30,000 crowd since Opening Day, and the official attendance — 30,720 — did not appear to require the usual exaggeration. It was notable that most seemed to stay throughout an enthralling 5-4 Twins victory.

Zebby Mathews, 25 as of Thursday, was the Twins’ starter. He struck out nine Royals, yet allowed two runs and lasted only four innings. Justin Topa then offered up an ugly two-run fifth and the Twins were trailing 4-0.

Kansas City starter Michael Wacha was not able to enjoy that cushion long, giving up three runs in the bottom of the inning: a leadoff home run by Harrison Bader (No. 5) and a two-run single by Royals nemesis Ty France.

Wacha returned to the mound for the sixth to face Kody Clemens, DFA’d by Philadelphia in late April and traded to the Twins for the price of a hardy handshake. Rookie Luke Keaschall’s broken forearm got Clemens to Minnesota, and then the Twins kept him over Edouard Julien (another lefty-hitting infielder) when Willi Castro came off the injured list May 5.

Clemens had six plate appearances in seven games — watching the stacked Phillies lineup from the dugout the rest of the time.

“Our people liked a few things about Kody — he has a good swing and could play various positions," manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But I’m not sure we were expecting this.”

Clemens had hit three home runs in 44 at-bats. Two of those homers came with his father, Roger, and mother, Debra, in attendance.

Now, in front of this rare large crowd in Target Field ‘25, Clemens reached a 1-1 count. Wacha came with a 93-mph fastball and the ball soon was traveling extra high to right field.

Clemens stayed in the box for a moment, then did a somewhat gentle bat flip when the ball landed well into the RF Porch. The official distance was 374 feet.

“You watched it,” a reporter said to Clemens later. “Were you waiting to see if it was out?”

Clemens smiled and said: “I was pretty sure it was a home run.”

The game was tied 4-4. And it was suggested in the main press box that Kody’s father might have stayed in the game to buzz him with a fastball next time due to Clemens’ temporary admiration of that homer.

The response from a Twins official was: “Justin Morneau just said the same thing on television.”

Morneau’s observation was repeated to Clemens in the clubhouse. He smiled again and then Kody said: “I’m sure Dad would have done that.”

As for that Lewis moment of near euphoria, Lucas Erceg — the standout K.C. reliever who surrendered the game-losing homer to Ty France on Friday — allowed a leadoff single to Brooks Lee in the eighth. And then Lewis hit a drive deep toward left-center, with mighty cheers from the bobblehead holders trying to help Royce’s fly ball into the bullpen.

No dice.

“We have the advantage in the dugout of both judging the swing and hearing the sound,” Baldelli said. “We knew that Royce didn’t quite get it.”

Drew Waters caught the ball with a slight hop in front of the fence.

So it was 4-4 into the ninth, in a game in which Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt already had four of what would be 18 strikeouts for the Royals. And yet when Derek Falvey, Twins president for business and baseball, was stopped for a brief postgame conversation, he said this:

“How good is Bobby Witt? He almost won that game running the bases in the top of the ninth, and then he almost saved it in the bottom of the ninth with a catch that no other shortstop might make.”

Witt singled to open the ninth against Jhoan Duran, stole second, and then stole third, getting there with one out.

“You knew he was going to steal third and you couldn’t do much about it,” Falvey said.

The solution for Duran was to strike out Maikel Garcia to leave Witt there and get out of the inning on Waters’ one-hopper back to the mound.

Pinch-hitter Carlos Correa walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth, then Christian Vázquez blooped a ball into no-man’s land in left-center.

Turned out, it wasn’t a mere man in pursuit; it was Witt making the catch in full flight with his back turned.

What now? Well, with two outs, Lee managed to squeeze a bouncer past second baseman Jonathan India to score Correa and provide another walk-off win for the Twins.

There’s an explanation:

The Twins are hot (16-2) and the Royals (4-9) are not.

Enjoy it. Summer’s still a month away and the other guys do have Bobby Witt, merely the best all-around player in the game.