Twins 4, Red Sox 3: Kody Clemens Rockets Home Run at Fenway

[Tom Froemming]

Image courtesy of ©Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Box Score
Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 94 pitches, 62 strikes (66.0%)
Home Runs: Kody Clemens (1)
Top 3 WPA: Bailey Ober 0.231, Jhoan Duran 0.215, Kody Clemens 0.207.
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Kody Clemens didn’t exactly follow in his dad’s footsteps, but he did eventually make it to the same stage. Nearly 41 years after Roger Clemens made his Fenway Park debut, his son Kody was playing his first game there. Instead of being atop the mound like his old man, Kody was in the batter’s box.

With proud papa watching from a luxury box, Kody blasted a two-run homer, his first since joining the Twins.

It’s easy to have complicated feelings toward Roger Clemens, but as a father, a son, and a Twins fan, I personally felt it was nice to be able to appreciate this moment of pure joy for the Clemens family. Heck, it was nice to simply be able to appreciate some darn runs.

The Bomba Squad days are long behind us, as the Twins entered today ranked tied for 25th in home runs. Kody Clemens isn’t going to be the guy to lead the Twins out of this power slump, as he’s only hit 15 home runs in 158 career games, but every little bit helps. Clemens started at second base and also made a nifty catch in shallow centerfield. Simply put, he looked hungry out there. This Twins team could use more of that.

That Clemens blast also changed the course of this game, as it broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning. The two-run homer was the start of a two-out rally, as Harrison Bader followed with a single, Christian Vázquez walked and Trevor Larnach hit a run-scoring single.

With the Twins up 4-1 in the top of the seventh, the threatening skies started to produce and the game went into a rain delay. At least it was conveniently-timed, as Bailey Ober was already at 94 pitches through six innings and was likely to turn the game over to the bullpen anyway.

Ober held up his end of the bargain, delivering a quality start. He limited Boston to one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out six batters. Ober has only yielded eight earned runs in 36 innings (2.00 ERA) since his rough season debut in which he gave up eight earned runs in that outing alone.

After the delay, Brock Stewart took over on the mound for the Twins and hit the first batter he faced. Jarren Duran later hit a run-scoring triple, then came around to score on a Rafael Devers single to bring Boston within a run. That was it for Stewart, as Griffin Jax came in and stopped the bleeding by coaxing consecutive groundouts. 

The Twins had a great opportunity to score an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning, but their love of the contact play came back to bite them. Ryan Jeffers led things off with a single and pinch runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr. stole second base. Clemens flew out to deep center field, allowing Keirsey to tag up and advance to third.

Harrison Bader hit the first pitch on the ground and right at the third baseman. With the contact play on, Keirsey was heading home. He was out by a mile. Bader stole second base, but Vázquez failed to bring him around, lining out to end the inning.

Despite Jax needing just seven pitches to finish off the seventh inning, Cole Sands took over for the Twins in the eighth. Sands struck out the first batter he faced before inducing a weak bouncer up the middle that should have resulted in the second out. Instead, the ball bounced through the infield for a single, splitting Clemens and Carlos Correa. It appeared the two infielders were both under the impression the other was going to take charge and field that ball. Luckily, it didn’t matter.

Sands came up huge, coaxing an inning-ending double play with an 88 mph splitter down. The timing and execution both on that pitch by Sands and the around-the-horn twin killing started by Brooks Lee at third base is exactly the kind of thing the Twins have been lacking in these close games so far this season.

Byron Buxton got a one-out single in the top of the ninth, but the Twins weren’t able to get any insurance in the top of the ninth. Jhoan Duran came in to try to secure the one-out save in the bottom of the ninth inning and gave up a leadoff single to Boston No. 9 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela. Duran retired the next batter on a ground out, but the speedy Rafaela managed to advance to second. 

Meat of the Boston order up, man in scoring position and Jhoan Duran channeled prime nasty, attack-mode Jhoan Duran. He went right after Devers, striking him out on four pitches, finishing with a filthy knuckle curve.

Rocco Baldelli made the call to intentionally walk the red-hot Alex Bregman with first base open, bringing young and talented left-handed hitter Wilyer Abreu to the plate. Duran remained in attack mode.

101.4 mph fastball fouled off.
100.8 mph fastball fouled off.
100.9 mph fastball out of the zone.
101.8 mph fastball hit for a game-ending flyout to left field.

Pfew! A great, much-needed road victory for this Twins team that’s been dreadful in close ballgames.

What’s Next?
The Twins wrap up their series in Boston Sunday afternoon with a starting pitching matchup of Chris Paddack vs. Garrett Crochet, a lefty. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 pm CT. The Twins are off Monday before starting a six-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting the Orioles for three before the Giants come to tow for the weekend.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Durán	13	0	24	0	16	53
Stewart	17	21	0	0	13	51
Coulombe	0	16	0	18	0	34
Jax	13	0	14	0	7	34
Sands	0	0	18	0	12	30
Alcalá	0	0	0	23	0	23
Varland	3	0	12	5	0	20
Topa	0	0	12	0	0	12

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[jkcarew]

Rocco gets away…barely…with the biggest mistake he’s made all season. He should have made it rain hard for another six hours.

Seemed like such an obvious move.

[Doctor Gast]

Glad to see Duran close

[thelanges5]

Much needed win and a close one too. Crochet vs Paddack tomorrow. Stack the righties in the lineup and LFG!

[Matt Braun]

Sands in the 8th raised an eyebrow from me, but it was good to see him come through. Hope that’s a confidence builder for him going forward. 

[DocBauer]

Great start from Ober! Heck, except for 1 game, a great season from Ober so far!

Nice to see Sands get right. I'll echo the sentiment that it's hopefully a confidence booster for him.

And I agree it was a great baseball, and father/son moment for Clemons to get  that HR blast. 

I'll enjoy this win, but I have a bad feeling about Sunday. But I'll be checking in when I can and hope for the best. 3 and 4, if it happens, doesn't stink for this road trip. But the Cleveland series left a bad taste. Should have at least split there, if not winning 3 of 4. 

[JD-TWINS]

Still just with the minimum amount of runs to have any expectation of winning the game. Can anybody bunt on the entire Club? In ‘23 they scored quite a few runs with Safety Squeeze - not sure if anyone can execute that play anymore?

Author stated Ober has a 2.00 ERA after his first start - impressive!! A real pitcher, with command - not great stuff but he has a nice approach and generally very good control.

Pen came though in the end …….Stewart might have to get the mysterious Judge Smails injury to be able to go to IL & get his act together…….got to be better!

Big hit for Larnach today - Buxton/Jeffers/Bader all with two hits …… better today at the plate…….a ways to go!!

Jax great job! Sands hung tough and worked his way through some bad luck. Duran’s got it going!!

[knothole61]

A sweet and much needed win.  It's early in May and too soon to give up on winning the Division just yet. We need to think in terms of small steps...lose on Saturday and we're 8 under .500, but now it's 6: small steps.

Two things give me a bit of confidence: I think that the starting pitching is quite solid and it's hard to overestimate that, and the fact that some potentially better hitters should be showing up in the lineup soon. It remains to be seen, of course, but Lewis, and Wallner might be a nice start on the road to a recovering offense, and the addition of Castro and Martin for depth would help as well, in my humble opinion. And I've circled my calendar in July for the return of Keaschall!  Finally, there is a chance that Miranda can get his act together and return to contribute in ways that he has in the past--maybe. 

Long summer, small steps...

  

[RpR]

[S Bart]

So, Ober has a 2.0 ERA if you eliminate the first start. Ryan currently has a 2.93 and Lopez has a 2,25. That is decent for the first three starters on a team. Here is a real surprise! Who has the second-best ERA in the American League? It is former Twin Tyler Mahle with a 1.19 ERA. WOW, I have a tough time comprehending that thought.

[Blyleven2011]

8 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Glad to see Duran close

A needed win , Clemens player of the game  , game ball Clemens , mvp of game Clemens ...

Correa was terrible , botched a few plays , but turned the double play to end the game  ... 

Duran was smoking and got the job done  ...

Team effort ...

Rain delay was almost costly , Twins prevail ...

 

[Peter]

Thought twins were going to lose with last out dropping in for hit but didn’t happen-great moment for clemens!!!  He was player of the game!!! This was huge much needed win!!! If somehow someway get win today  would be 3-4 which should’ve been 6-1. Baby steps in getting over .500 huge winnable series up next 2 weeks!!!

[William K Johnson]

Contributions from a second baseman, who would have thunk it!!   Seattle gets solid contribution from their second baseman every game.   Just saying.  In fact, he led off the ninth with a double and scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the ninth.

[Old Crow]

4 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

A needed win , Clemens player of the game  , game ball Clemens , mvp of game Clemens ...

Correa was terrible , botched a few plays , but turned the double play to end the game  ... 

Duran was smoking and got the job done  ...

Team effort ...

Rain delay was almost costly , Twins prevail ...

 

For a while there I thought we were still in ground hog day mode.

[Mike Sixel]

One page of comments on a win..... People still commenting on the previous loss.. I think there is a lot to be learned from this.