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When Pablo López looked at the schedule after he was named the Twins’ Opening Day starter this spring, he chuckled as he noted that he’d start Opening Day on the road and then start at loanDepot Park, his old stomping grounds, before he finally made his Target Field debut in front of his new home fans on Tuesday.

That first impression at Target Field was spectacular.

Though the Twins’ new No. 1 starter allowed the first four White Sox hitters to reach base – plating two runs in the process – López clamped down in an absolute masterclass, retiring the final 23 hitters he faced, fanning the final four as he finished with 10 strikeouts.

When manager Rocco Baldelli emerged from the dugout to remove López from the game with two outs in the eighth inning, the disappointment of some fans quickly turned to a massive roar of cheers and applause as López strode off the mound he’ll get to call his own through at least the end of next season.

“I had heard nothing but good things about the fans, how they get into the game and all that,” López said. “So, I’m extremely happy that it happened. It doesn’t happen very often and it’s something that I’ll cherish and remember forever.”

This is a new and improved López who has taken his game to the next level with the addition of a new, sweeping slider to lessen the reliance on his changeup – but on Tuesday, he showed he doesn’t even need that to mow through a lineup.

Once López realized he had little feel for that slider through those first four hitters, he and catcher Christian Vázquez played it by ear and came up with a new approach, relying more on the changeup – like in years past – and leaning on Vázquez’s ability to read swings to pave a new game plan.

They mixed in a wrinkle, too, with López’s already dominant changeup tweaked a little by dropping a bit of velocity and adding more depth to confuse White Sox hitters – to the point where Vázquez said Chicago outfielder Andrew Benintendi (a former Red Sox teammate) pointed out to him at home plate that the changeup didn’t look at all like what the scouting report had said.

That’s what a frontline starter does – even without his best stuff, he can adapt, persevere – and thrive.