Kody

Clemens

Clemens’ big hit was a left-on-left double that would have been a homer in nine ballparks. He’s hitting .250/.297/.462 against southpaws, good for an .759 OPS that’s virtually identical to his .758 mark against righties. He’s still sitting versus left-handers on occasion, but he’s doing his best to tell the Twins that’s not necessary.

The Royals weirdly decided to get cute in the ninth inning of a 3-0 game, turning it over to season-long gascan Lucas Erceg. Erceg loaded the bases with two outs, gave way to Matt Strahm, and Strahm then allowed Clemens to walk off the Royals in embarrassing fashion with a 407-foot bomb to right-center against his slider. Clemens has enough power to be an interesting player in fantasy leagues, with eight homers over his last 30 games and a .513 slugging percentage, but he’s a career .218 hitter so don’t expect batting average miracles.

Clemens had a little league home run in the first inning. He hit a triple to right field and the relay throw from shortstop Alika Williams hit Clemens before bouncing far enough away from him to scoot home. In the seventh inning, he tripled again with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly. Clemens continues to sell out for power at the plate. He’s hitting .243 with a .246 ISO, which are both on pace to be career-highs.

It’s a rare off-day for the versatile 30-year-old who has become a fixture in the middle of the Twins’ lineup this season. Royce Lewis will slide over and cover second base in his place on Friday night while Victor Caratini starts at first base and will bat sixth for the Twins.

Both homers came off lefties, which was pretty impressive. Usually a platoon guy, he had just four career homers in 225 plate appearances against southpaws before taking Matthew Boyd and Caleb Thielbar deep today. Clemens has 12 homers and 30 RBI in his last 35 games. He totaled six homers and 18 RBI in 50 games previously.

Clemens put the Twins on the board early on Friday when he sent a curveball from Gerrit Cole 423 feet into left-center to give his team a 1-0 lead. Clemens would later double in the fourth inning and came around to score on an RBI single by Victor Caratini. Clemens has now hit safely in three-straight games and in six of his last seven while smacking four homers over that span.

Clemens smashed a three-run home run off a high fastball from Tatsuya Imai in the second inning that practically ended his night. That was Clemens’ 14th home run on the season after hitting a career-high 19 last year. This has been a sensational multi-year power surge from Clemens who entered 2025 with just 14 career long balls and looks the part of a legitimate middle of the order bat at the moment.

Clemens knocked a base hit and scored a run in the first inning, then singled and scored again in the fifth, crossing home for two of the team’s four runs. The versatile 30-year-old is hitting .241/.305/.467 with 13 homers, 37 runs scored, 35 RBI, and six steals across 287 plate appearances.

It’s Keaschall’s first start in the outfield as a major leaguer. He started 19 games, all of them in center, in the outfield in the minors. The Twins are tired of watching him struggle at second base, so this could be a full-time switch. The one problem there for the long haul is that the Twins have a terrific group of outfield prospects, led by Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gabriel Gonzalez, on the way, which might eventually crowd Keaschall out.

Clemens’ homer to right off Kumar Rocker in the third was a 367-footer that would have departed 19 of 30 ballparks. A lifetime .206/.263/.403 hitter coming into the season, he’s at .251/.318/.493 right now, and it seems mostly deserved, what with his strikeout rate being down to 22 percent.