Minnesota Twins walk off winners over the Kansas City Royals on Ty France’s home run

Before the ninth inning Friday, Ty France had never homered in a game at Target Field, whether it was in the 22 home games this year or the 16 games he played as a visitor.

When France finally did it, in his 144th career at-bat at the ballpark, the “Star Wars” main theme played over the loudspeakers and teammates dumped a water cooler over his head.

France blasted a walk-off, two-run homer on a first-pitch slider from Kansas City Royals reliever Lucas Erceg to give the Twins a 3-1 victory over their division rival in their series opener. It was the first walk-off homer by a Twins batter since Christian Vázquez on July 7, 2024.

“It was unbelievable,” Twins righthander Pablo López said. “Like he said [in the clubhouse], we don’t get paid extra to play extra innings, so I’m glad he took it upon himself to take care of that in the ninth inning.”

In a game where there was little offense, a pitchers’ duel between López and Kansas City rookie Noah Cameron, it was fitting it ended on one swing. And against the Royals, it was fitting it was France.

France, who owns a 1.175 OPS in 32 career games against the Royals, knew it was a homer as soon as he connected with the 84-mph pitch. He watched for a moment as the ball sailed past the fence in left-center field, then flexed as he rounded first base. Twins closer Jhoan Duran, who was warming up for a potential 10th inning, raised his arms and started jumping up and down.

The Twins have won 15 of their past 17 games.

“It was sick, man,” said Carlos Correa, who reached on an infield single before France’s second walk-off hit of the season. “Erceg is such a tough pitcher to get the ball in the air against. For Ty to put that good of a swing on that first-pitch slider, it was very impressive.”

The Twins had lost seven of their previous eight games against the Royals, dating to last year. They dropped three of four games in Kansas City in April by a combined four runs, unable to win low-scoring games.

López gave up seven hits and hit two batters across 5⅔ innings, but it amounted to only one run. Four Twins relievers combined to give up one hit, and Griffin Jax erased it with a successful pickoff move before his next pitch in the eighth inning.

The Twins totaled only four hits before the ninth inning.

“When we played them before, it felt like that was not really our brand of baseball,” Correa said. “We were scuffling and trying to find our way back. Right now, we’re playing really good baseball. I feel like big wins like that in close games, they were getting away at the beginning of the year.”

Correa received an ovation from the Target Field crowd, an announced 22,391 fans, when he stepped into the batter’s box for his first at-bat following a stint on the seven-day concussion injured list. Two pitches later, in the second inning, Correa bashed a solo homer beyond the wall in left-center field.

“Taking a lot of swings the last couple days, so I was able to work on some stuff,” said Correa, whose bobblehead was given away Friday on Star Wars Night. “I felt good today.”

López didn’t have any easy innings and was upset with himself after giving up a few two-strike hits, but he didn’t give up any runs after the first inning. He plunked his first batter with an errant sinker, then gave up a pair of hits, which included a two-out RBI double to Cavan Biggio.

He pitched around a leadoff double in the second inning after a sacrifice bunt attempt turned into an infield pop-up, striking out the final two batters in the frame. López stranded two runners in the third inning with a strikeout and a flyout.

Bobby Witt Jr., the Royals starshortstop, opened the fifth inning with a single to center. He stole second base, but he didn’t advance further as López retired his next five batters.

BOXSCORE: Twins 3, Kansas City 1

MLB standings

“The biggest piece of growth for myself was not to beat myself up about that on the mound,” López said. “Obviously, I go in the dugout, and I’m like, ‘Well, shoot, I could have made a better pitch.’ On the mound, I was beating myself up a little bit, but I’m like, ‘OK, I cannot let this guy score. What do I need to do to execute a quality pitch right here?’ ”

The Twins, who lost their first seven series openers to begin the season, have a 9-1 record in the first game of their past 10 series.

“We’re playing as if every game is do or die,” López said. “Every single pitch, we’re locked in.”