Luke Keaschall leads revamped Twins to fifth win in past seven games with walk-off home run

Luke Keaschall was counting down the number of hitters ahead of him in the batting order during the 11th inning Sunday, wondering whether he would have a chance to play hero.

He has already done just about everything else during his first dozen games in the big leagues.

Keaschall, facing Kansas City Royals reliever Carlos Estévez, blasted an elevated 96-mph fastball over the wall in right-center field for a walk-off, two-run homer in a 5-3 Twins victory at Target Field. Keaschall punched the air with his right arm and jumped in the air once the ball cleared the wall.

“I usually don’t lose my cool like that, but that was a fun game,” said Keaschall, who was doused with buckets of water once he crossed home plate. “Probably the most fun game I’ve ever played.”

Keaschall, who has opened his career with an 11-game hitting streak, has been a do-it-all type player since he broke into the big leagues. He has reached base 24 times in 12 career games, a Twins record. He has produced 12 RBI in his first 12 games, another team record.

With an automatic runner at second base in the 11th, the Royals opted to intentionally walk Kody Clemens. Ryan Jeffers followed with a fly ball to center, and Austin Martin, the runner at second, was thrown out attempting to advance to third.

Three pitches later, Keaschall sent the announced crowd of 26,746 into a frenzy with his second career homer. Jeffers dumped another water cooler over his head during a postgame interview.

Said manager Rocco Baldelli: “We live for days like that.”

Twins reliever Michael Tonkin earned the win — his first one in a Twins uniform since Sept. 29, 2016 — after he pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings with the automatic runner at second base. In both innings, he walked a batter before he escaped the jams.

After Tonkin struck out Salvador Perez to end the top of the 11th inning, he shouted as he walked off the mound.

“For him to work through that and be all fired up, we were all loving it,” said Baldelli, noting the typically stoic Tonkin pitched an inning Saturday, too. “We were all screaming for him. He’s got arms and legs going all over the place on the mound, feeling it. He should be feeling it. That’s the best feeling you can have as a major league reliever. That’s what it looks like.”

The Royals pulled ahead in the seventh inning. Cole Sands, the Twins’ top reliever after their trade deadline exodus, surrendered a single to Maikel Garcia and a go-ahead, two-run homer to Vinnie Pasquantino.

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In the eighth, it was the Twins’ turn to respond. Martin looped a fly ball into left field, and Royals left fielder John Rave came up empty on his diving attempt. Martin was awarded a triple on the ball that rolled to the wall.

Jeffers, with two outs, lined a first-pitch fastball off reliever Lucas Erceg into left field for a game-tying RBI single. The clutch hit extended Jeffers’ hitting streak to 12 games and ended the team’s 0-for-12 skid without a hit when there was a runner in scoring position.

“A lot of different guys are stepping into different spots,” Baldelli said. “I think sometimes you have some change, you get put into a new place, and it can wake you up a little bit and get you in the right mental spot to succeed.”

The Royals went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base. Topa left the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Twins starter José Ureña allowed three hits and four walks in three innings, throwing only 36 of his 73 pitches for strikes, but it resulted in only one run.

The flyout turned double play in the 11th inning — Martin tried to run back to second base to tag on the fly ball and didn’t have much momentum moving to third before he was thrown out — could have been a devastating mistake.

At least until Keaschall came to the plate.