Royce Lewis smashed the Twins’ 18-game postseason losing streak into the seats, homering in each of his first two at-bats to carry the AL Central champions to a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays in the opener of their AL wild-card series on Tuesday in Minneapolis.

Lewis hit a two-run shot off Kevin Gausman in the first inning and a leadoff drive in the third, sending the home dugout and the sellout Target Field crowd into a frenzy.

The bigger celebration occurred a few hours later when Jhoan Duran pitched a hitless ninth to close the first victory in the playoffs for the Twins since Oct. 5, 2004. They had the longest postseason losing streak in major North American professional sports. It was the first home win for the Twins in the playoffs since Game 1 of the ALCS in 2002 at the Metrodome.

Lewis was a 3-year-old then. He’s the type of big-time player — with five grand slams in 70 career games — that could lead the Twins on an actual postseason run instead of just hanging a division title banner and leaving the party after three or four days.

Pablo López also delivered a strong playoff debut for the Twins, permitting one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He wore a Johan Santana jersey to the ballpark, a nod to not only his Venezuelan boyhood hero but the last Twins pitcher to win a postseason game.

Gausman’s day for the Blue Jays was more bumpy, finishing four innings with three hits and three walks. The right-hander frequently asked for a new ball early in his outing and had trouble at one point with the wireless PitchCom device that is used to prevent sign stealing. Gausman had only one start shorter than this in 2023, when he logged 3 1/3 innings on May 4.

Game 2 is Wednesday afternoon. Game 3 would be Thursday, with the entire series in Minneapolis under MLB’s postseason format.

The Blue Jays carried their own October angst into this series, having not won a postseason game since the 2016 ALCS. They took two-game sweeps as wild cards in 2020 and 2022, and Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — two franchise cornerstones and the celebrated sons of former major leaguers — have not yet won a postseason game.

Rangers top sloppy Rays: Jordan Montgomery scattered six hits over seven innings, helping the Rangers beat the sloppy Rays 4-0 in their AL wild-card series opener.

Corey Seager and Josh Jung drove in runs and the Rangers benefitted from four errors by the Rays, who also fizzled offensively before a crowd of just 19,704 — roughly 5,300 below listed capacity — at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Rangers are a win away from a division-series matchup against the East champion Orioles.

The hosts, wearing throwback Devil Rays jerseys in the style of 1998-2000, lost theirs sixth straight postseason game since winning their 2021 division-series opener against the Red Sox. The Rays have reached the postseason for the fifth straight season but have one run in their last three playoff defeats, hitting .133.