For nearly the entire afternoon, the Twins looked like a team going through the motions. Then Kody Clemens turned a dead game into a wild finish.
Minnesota was buried by Noah Cameron for most of the day, and the Royals left-hander made the Twins look completely out of sync. Cameron, who entered with a 4.93 ERA, fifth worst among pitchers with at least 100 innings this season, no-hit Minnesota through six and worked eight scoreless innings overall. The fact that he did it as a lefty only added to the familiar misery for a lineup that has struggled badly since the All-Star break.
That slump has been brutal. The Twins had shown real progress from June 1 through the break, but since then the offense has gone flat.
They’ve scored more than five runs only twice in that span, and both of those games came with heavy help from opposing errors - three by the Guardians and four by the Athletics. Strip those out, and Minnesota is averaging two runs per game since the break.
The numbers behind that stretch are ugly across the board. The Twins are 29th in home runs, 28th in slugging percentage, 25th in batting average, 24th in on-base percentage, 28th in xwOBA, 27th in wRC+, and 30th in barrel rate. The contact has been soft, and the lineup has been leaning on players like Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall, Ryan Kreidler, and Austin Martin while the hits simply haven’t been falling.
That’s what made the decision to add another limited bat when Buxton went on the IL so hard to understand. Walker Jenkins, the consensus Top 5 prospect, was available after hitting well at AAA all season.
Kaelen Culpepper and Emmanuel Rodriguez are still working their way back from injuries, but even rotating them in every other day could have given the lineup a spark. Instead, Derek Shelton has used two different lineups this week that included journeyman minor league catcher Alex Jackson starting at first base.
Still, none of that mattered once the ninth inning arrived.
Lucas Erceg, who opened the season as the Royals’ closer before losing the job because of his lack of commend, came in and immediately gave Minnesota life. He hit Ryan Jeffers, allowed a soft two-strike single to Royce Lewis, and then walked Josh Bell after getting ahead 0-2. Matt Strahm entered next to face Kody Clemens, and he too got to 0-2 against the left-handed hitter.
Then Clemens changed everything on the third pitch of the at-bat.
The Twins, who had looked lifeless, dead, and outclassed for eight and two thirds innings and two strikes, suddenly had a win in hand. Minnesota finished off another series victory, got back to .500, and Clemens delivered a moment that will stick. He also joined a tiny club, becoming one of only 33 players in MLB history to hit an ultimate grand slam.
On to Seattle!
In Other News...
Twins Fans May Need To Rethink Marek Houston Fast
Marek Houston is starting to look like more than the athletic shortstop the Twins thought they were getting when they took him 16th overall. In Double-A, he has backed up the buzz with a .325 average and a 135 wRC+, and the early returns have only strengthened the case that Minnesota may have found a real piece for the middle infield. His game still rests on the traits that made him appealing in the first place, but the bat is giving the organization something extra to dream on.
Houstons rise also matters because the Twins have been searching for stability at shortstop, and a prospect who can help solve that spot carries obvious value. He is already drawing attention on top 100 lists, and the combination of athleticism, plate discipline and baserunning gives him a profile that can move quickly if the hit tool keeps holding up. For now, the bigger question is how soon the Twins can start planning around him as a real answer rather than just a promising one. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Morneau Just Reignited A Classic Twins Hat Debate
Hall of Fame weekend gave the Twins a chance to lean into a little nostalgia, and the classic M hats with the Hall of Fame patch fit the moment perfectly. The throwback look stood out because Minnesota usually rotates through other cap logos, which is part of why the old-school style still carries so much weight with longtime fans.
Justin Morneau noticed, too, and he made it clear on a broadcast that he liked the classic M lids. He even joked that he might get in trouble for saying it, which only added to the fun of a harmless uniform debate that never quite goes away in Minnesota. [Read more 🡒]
Kody Clemens Sends A Calm Message Twins Fans Need Right Now
Kody Clemens has quickly become one of the steadier voices in a Twins clubhouse trying to hold together a playoff push without much margin for error. Since arriving in April, he has given Minnesota a needed offensive spark and, more importantly, has sounded like a player comfortable with the pressure around him, stressing trust inside the room and a simple approach at the plate. For a team trying to stay competitive through uneven stretches, that kind of calm has mattered as much as the production.
The bigger issue is that the Twins cannot lean on one bat or one mood for long. Byron Buxtons absence has only sharpened the need for others to keep stringing together quality at-bats, while the bullpens inconsistency has made every late inning feel a little more fragile. If Minnesota is going to keep hanging around, the front office may have to help the roster survive the next stretch, because the current formula still looks too thin to carry all the way through. [Read more 🡒]