Shades of Johan? López evokes Twins great in opener

KANSAS CITY -- Pablo López has vivid memories of watching Twins baseball as a youngster in Venezuela, because he grew up a huge Johan Santana fan -- just like any baseball-loving kid at the time in his homeland.

On Thursday, he joined Santana as the only Venezuelans to make an Opening Day start for the Twins, and López accomplished something that even his pitching idol never did in a Twins uniform: Win one of those on the road.

Armed with a new slider and tasked with setting the tone for the Twins’ high expectations in his first career Opening Day start, López held the Royals scoreless for 5 1/3 innings as the Minnesota pitching staff twirled a two-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory at Kauffman Stadium. In doing so, López became the first Twins pitcher to earn an Opening Day win on the road since Brad Radke in 2003.

“Being on any list with the name of Johan Santana, it's a great honor,” López said. “I'm definitely going to remember that forever.”

Caleb Thielbar, Jorge López, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran finished the job to hand the Twins their fifth Opening Day shutout, a feat previously accomplished by the 2019, 1970, ‘68 and ‘61 teams. It also matched ‘19 for the fewest hits allowed by Minnesota pitchers on Opening Day.

The Twins could feasibly have named any of their five starters to pitch on Opening Day, but they chose López after they acquired him by trading reigning American League batting champion Luis Arraez to the Marlins during the offseason.

“I am very aware of what the Twins gave up in order to bring me and the other two guys in,” López said. “But I don't think it's pressure. Rather, it's encouragement. It's not pressure. It's just about, ‘OK, the team is putting this much trust in me. I'm going to make the most out of it.’ That was the way I tried to look at it.”

This is what the Twins had in mind -- and more.

They already liked what López brought to the table as a member of the Marlins, when he relied heavily on his wipeout changeup (just like Santana). This spring, he emphasized the addition of a sweeping slider for the first time to keep hitters guessing -- and López looked like he’d been throwing it his entire life as he struck out eight, allowed two hits and walked three in his 5 1/3 scoreless frames.

López threw the changeup nearly as often as he threw his fastball last season, but on Thursday, he threw his slider more than the changeup -- with devastating results. He threw 19 sliders. Royals hitters swung at 11 – and missed on eight. He threw it in all counts, whether on the first pitch, behind or ahead.

“We didn’t bring Pablo López over here and think that we were going to rework everything that he did,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “He does so many things so well. I would call it small adjustments here and there, and maybe one of them is the slider, and how he’s using it.”

The trusty changeup was still there when he needed it. López first ran into trouble in the fourth, when he walked MJ Melendez and allowed a single to Salvador Pérez, but changeup after changeup got Vinnie Pasquantino to strike out. Franmil Reyes soon went down on the sweeping slider, and a subsequent flyout by Michael Massey got López out of the jam.

And perhaps the most pivotal play occurred in the fifth, when a one-out double, hit-by-pitch and walk loaded the bases and López fell behind Melendez, 3-0, but a pair of changeups got Melendez to roll the ball over to first. Joey Gallo made an athletic play to scoop the ball before it went foul, avoid the runner and throw home -- and Christian Vázquez completed the relay to first for a rare 3-2-4 double play.

“He's very, very calm on the mound, even when he's got bases loaded and it's [a 3-0 count] at one point,” Gallo said. “You can just tell he was in control, still.”

Byron Buxton tripled in the sixth, Trevor Larnach singled him home and aggressive platoon-based pinch-hitting with Minnesota’s deep bench also gave Baldelli and the Twins plenty more to like in their decisive two-run sixth-inning rally.

But they wouldn’t have gotten there without putting their faith in their newfound Opening Day starter.

“We trusted the pitches that Pablo had,” Vázquez said.

He’s got one more now -- and it’s a good one.