KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – After an opening weekend series on the road, the Kansas City Royals returned home to Kauffman Stadium Monday and kick-started their home schedule with a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Twins.
After missing the final two-and-a-half months of the 2025 season due to a left rotator cuff strain, Kris Bubic returned to the mound as the Royals’ fourth starter and made a quality start in his 2026 debut. Bubic pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 hits and 1 run while striking out 4 batters en route to his first win of the season.
Once Bubic left the game, Daniel Lynch IV, Nick Mears and John Schreiber took over on the mound. Lynch IV and Mears each faced the minimum in their innings of work. Schreiber came on in the ninth inning and gave up a two-out single before escaping with the win to even the Royals’ record at 2-2.
Kyle Isbel’s first home run of the year comes on a 2-run shot in the bottom of the second inning. The 403-foot blast would’ve cleared the fences in right field even under Kauffman’s old dimensions, and answered the Twins’ opening run to give Kansas City a 2-1 lead.
Matt Wallner’s solo home run opened the scoring in the top of the second. The ball traveled 423 feet, according to MLB’s StatCast data, easily clearing the new extended “Fountain Deck” seating in the right center field portion of Kauffman Stadium.
First-year Royals outfielder Isaac Collins connected on his first hit as a member of the organization in the bottom of the seventh inning. Collins’, a switch-hitter who began the day from the left side switched around and batted right-handed against Twins reliever Kody Funderburk, smacking a 400-foot home run into the left field bullpen to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead in the late innings.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino runs onto the field before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)(Charlie Riedel | AP)
For the first time since 2020 — and the first time in a non-COVID season since 2017 — the Kansas City Royals’ home-opener did not come on the first day of the season. The unusual start to the season for Kansas City came on a perfect weather day at Kauffman Stadium, with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s making it the hottest Opening Day in franchise history, surpassing an 82-degree record set 40 years ago.
Challenge time
The first ABS (automated balls-and-strikes) challenge in Kauffman Stadium history came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Following a 2-1 pitch that was called for a strike, Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia tapped his helmet, initiating what became a successful challenge to turn a would-be 2-2 count into a 3-1 advantage in his favor.
One pitch later, Garcia laced a double to the left field wall.
Garcia was involved in several of the ABS challenges Monday. The second and third ABS challenges of the afternoon came in the bottom of the seventh inning inning, when a 2-1 fastball was called a ball to Garcia and the Twins initiated a challenge. The call was overturned, making it a 2-2 count. Two pitches later, the Twins challenged another ball call and the call was upheld, giving Garcia a 3-2 count.
Up next
The Royals and Twins will have an off day Tuesday before returning for the second and third games of the series on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon. Wednesday night, St. Joseph, Missouri, native Noah Cameron is expected to pitch for Kansas City in a game that is scheduled to begin at 6:40 p.m.
The Royals (2-2) will look to go above .500 for the first time this season.
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