It started out ragged. It turned in a hurry. And it didn’t turn back.
Royce Lewis continued his unbelievable transformation from an injury-prone first-round draft pick to superstar status with two home runs, and Pablo Lopez pitched like he was expected to, and the Minnesota Twins finally snapped a record 18-game postseason losing streak with a 3-1 win over Toronto in the opening game of the AL wild card series at Target Field.
Jhoan Duran, the Twins' fifth pitcher of the game, struck out two in the ninth and hustled to first to retire George Springer for the final out of the game.
Springer was the tying run at the plate when he smashed a grounder to the right side that was snagged by a sprawling Donovan Solano, who got up and threw to Duran at first and send the sell-out crowd of 38,450 into a frenzy
Lewis, who two weeks ago suffered a hamstring injury that idled him for the rest of the regular season, scorched a 3-2 four-seamed fastball from Kevin Gausman into the left-field bleachers with a runner on to wipe out any angst that mounted in a ragged top of the first inning.
He homered again off Gausman in the third to make it 3-0, going with the pitch on the outside corner and dropping the ball over the high wall in right field.
All along, Lopez, who was traded to the Twins in the off-season for batting whiz Luis Arraez, recovered from some shoddy first inning fielding and put together 5 2-3 strong innings for the win.
Leadoff batter George Springer started the game by hitting a catchable foul ball that second baseman Eduardo Julien failed to reach right in front of the first-base railing.
Then Springer reached when Jorge Polanco, playing out-of-position at third base, threw wide to first after gobbling up an easy ground ball.
Springer got to second when Julien decided to throw to first on a ground ball to the right side, and Lopez escaped from the jam by getting Bo Bichette to fly out to right.
The pivotal play, one that the Twins seemingly never completed during their postseason drought, came in the fourth inning when Carlos Correa turned a misstep by Polanco into a key out at the plate.
Polanco charged a dribbler that ticked off his glove while Bichette, taking off from second, tore around third and headed home.
Correa, who missed the last few weeks of the season with a flare-up of plantar fasciitis, went from a standstill to scooping up the ball on the dead run, and firing off-balance to Ryan Jeffers at the plate to get Bichette and retire the side without a run scoring.
Center fielder Michael A. Taylor sparkled with a couple of running catches, then made a short jump at the wall to grab a long fly by Matt Chapman with two runners on to end the sixth inning.
That play came right after the Jays scored their only run on a two-out single to left by Kevin Keirmaier that knocked out Lopez.
Louie Varland made his postseason debut to finish the sixth inning, followed by one scoreless frame each for Caleb Thielbar, Griffin Jax, and Duran.
Lopez allowed a run on five hits while striking out three and walking two, with the Twins bullpen allowing one hit and a walk in 3 and 1-3 scoreless innings.
Gausman struggled early to get the ball over the plate, allowing three runs and striking out five while walking three in four innings.
NOTES: The Twins are 5-1 in the postseason against the Blue Jays, winning the 1991 ALCS four games to one. ... Lewis became the third major leaguer to hit two homers in his first two postseason at-bats. The others are Tamnpa Bay's Evan Longoria in 2008 and the Twins' Gary Gaetti in 1987. ... The Blue Jays have lost six straight postseason games. ... It was the 80th career playoff game for Correa, whose 8th-inning single was his 83rd postseason hit. ... One of the first postseason games with a pitch clock ended in a snappy 2:40.