Cole Ragans & Maikel Garcia were the highlights. How the Royals looked on opening day

Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia electrified a raucous crowd at Kauffman Stadium in the first inning.

Garcia, 24, hit a leadoff home run off Minnesota Twins ace Pablo Lopez. He drilled a 83.3 mph sweeper — a pitch the Royals are plenty familiar with — into the left-field bullpen. The home run traveled 398 feet and put the Royals on the board.

As he rounded the bases, Garcia took in the special moment. After all, it was his first opening day in a Royals uniform.

“First opening day, it’s a big home run,” Garcia said. “Got to enjoy it with the fans. I’m happy for that, but we didn’t get the win.”

Indeed, the bolt of energy was extinguished quickly. Lopez recovered and shut down the Royals in short order. He propelled the Twins to a 4-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 38,775 fans.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to Lopez, (Brock) Stewart and (Griffin) Jax there,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We didn’t have too many opportunities. The leadoff double from MJ (Melendez), (Hunter) Renfroe put a good swing on the ball. ... We didn’t mount too much. Lopez is tough.”

In the loss, several players made their Royals debut.

Newcomers Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier were in the starting lineup. Relievers Chris Stratton and Nick Anderson pitched out of the bullpen.

Cole Ragans started on the mound. It was his first opening-day start, and he set a Royals record in the process. Ragans finished with nine strikeouts against the Twins. He allowed two earned runs in six innings.

However, Ragans wound up on the losing end at home. KC mustered five hits.

“He battled them. ... He was really good out there,” Quatraro said. “Gave him a couple of runs. We’ll take that every time out.”

Meanwhile, Lopez registered seven strikeouts and sat down 20 of his last 23 batters faced.

The Royals were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez added a pair of doubles. Frazier singled in the fifth inning.

The rest of the lineup was silenced. The Twins scored two early runs that held up down the stretch. Royce Lewis hit a solo home run in the first inning. Carlos Correa followed with an RBI double in the third.

The Twins added two insurance runs in the ninth. Stratton was charged with both earned runs. A wild pitch allowed one run to score and the other came on Garcia’s throwing error.

The Royals dropped to 20-36 all-time on opening day — and 0-1 this season.

Here are more notables from today’s game:

Cole Ragans shines in losing effort

Ragans faced little adversity against the Twins, but he handled it all well. In the first inning, Minnesota’s Lewis overcame an 0-2 count to turn around a 98.1 mph fastball. He blasted a 423-foot home run over the left-center field wall.

“I just left it over the plate and he made me pay,” Ragans said. “But overall, me and Sal (Perez) got on the same page. He was incredible back there. Defense was incredible. I thought it was good.”

The Twins quickly took a 1-0 lead. However, Ragans was able to settle into his start. He relied on his five-pitch arsenal to navigate through the Twins lineup.

Ragans liked how his slider played. He worked last season to add the pitch to his arsenal. On Thursday, it was on display. Ragans registered 10 swings and four whiffs with the slider.

His changeup was also effective. The pitch generated 10 swings, per Baseball Savant.

“I felt like I located it well for the most part,” Ragans said of the slider. “Overall, I felt good about it.

In the second inning, Ragans struck out the side. That marked three of his nine strikeouts in the game, and he made Royals history in the process. Ragans became the first Royals starter with nine strikeouts in an opening-day game.

Ragans surpassed Wally Bunker (1970) and Danny Duffy (2017) on the list. The duo had tied with eight strikeouts as the previous high.

Despite the loss, Ragans pitched six innings in the loss. He allowed two runs, five hits and three walks. He threw 66 of his 97 pitches for strikes.

“Just got to move on,” Ragans said. “There’s a lot of baseball left. So move on. Flush it. Forget get.”

Up next: KC Royals schedule

The Royals are back in action on Saturday. Seth Lugo will make his Royals debut against Joe Ryan. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. Central at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City will wrap the series with the Twins at 1:10 p.m. Central on Sunday. Then the club will hit the road for three games in Baltimore.