This isn’t how Twins fans expected to finally get their first glimpse of the new-look offense in 2020 -- not with prominent cracks of the bat reverberating around the cavernous expanse of an empty stadium, and certainly not in Chicago in late July.\n\nThe Twins made it worth the wait. They brought plenty of that promised offense to Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night -- and
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\"It was a relief to hit a ball out on the first pitch like that,” Kepler said. “You know, given the two weeks that we got to prepare for this, me being somewhat of a perfectionist and with doubt creeping into my mind at times, you can doubt your swing. ... So, being able to hit that ball out -- I got jammed a little bit, but it still went out -- it was a sigh of relief for me and just showed that we're ready and we did what we had to do in those two weeks to prepare.”
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To no surprise, the offense was off to the races from there.\n\nKepler was all over a first-pitch fastball from White Sox ace Lucas Giolito, and he launched it an estimated 365 feet, making him the fourth hitter since the turn of the century to homer on the first pitch of the season. He pulled another fastball 407 feet into right in the second inning, becoming the second player in MLB history to homer in each of the first two frames of a season. His second blast netted the Twins an early 5-1 lead.\n\nKepler became the first player in Twins/Senators franchise history to homer in his first two at-bats of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and he became the first Twins player to homer twice on Opening Day since Jacque Jones in 2002.\n\n“Everyone came together, and we had so much energy to start the game,” Kepler said. “I knew it would fade because that's normal, but off the bat, everyone was rooting for each other, and that's the key. When you hear your buddies rooting for you from the dugout, then everything else comes easy.\"
Though Kepler’s blasts got the evening started with a bang, the Twins were far from reliant on the long ball, as Minnesota did its most important damage on a two-run, go-ahead single by
“Them coming out early on and doing what they did, it’s wonderful to see,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It really sets a nice tone when you’re getting out there in a very different kind of situation, a very different Opening Day than we’re used to. But we did, we went out there and put some runs up early. And that puts everyone in a good place. And the confidence level is high because of that.”\n\nEvery member of the starting nine but
It was the kind of redundant production that could give this team plenty of leeway in the face of shaky pitching performances like the one they got from ace
It also helped that the Twins’ bullpen -- expected to be a quiet strength of the team -- locked things down upon Berríos’ exit.