MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Stepping into the batter’s box in the eighth inning, Mitch Garver was thinking home run. So were his teammates, with four players in the dugout predicting Garver would hit one.

Garver knew he had to step out and reset. His teammates sat back and enjoyed their prognostication.

Garver’s two-run homer in the eighth inning snapped a scoreless tie, and Kyle Gibson gave up two hits in eight innings in the Minnesota Twins’ 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

“As soon as it was off the bat, I was up yelling for it to keep going,” Gibson said. “So yeah, that was a pretty exciting moment and the fans got loud. Even (Max) Kepler afterwards said, ‘Man, this place gets loud, huh?’ I was like ‘Yeah.’ When it’s sold out and that type of at-bat, the fans let us hear it. That was pretty cool.”

Garver’s homer was deep to the berm in center field off Kansas City reliever Jake Diekman (0-4) after Kepler had walked. Minnesota has won 16 of its past 22 games and started a big weekend at Target Field with three expected sellouts and Joe Mauer’s number retirement ceremony on Saturday.