TAMPA -- Kody Clemens has been a Minnesota Twin for all of one month. His importance during that short period of time can’t be overstated.
“He’s our most valuable player, man,” said shortstop Carlos Correa. “He came in, and all he’s done ever since he came in is just hit and hit for power, which is exactly what we needed in this lineup.”
With his father, Roger, in attendance, Clemens added two more plays to his team MVP reel during the Twins’ 4-2 victory over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday night.
The first was his fifth homer with Minnesota -- a solo shot in the second inning that traveled a Statcast-projected 415 feet to center field. That matched Clemens’ career high in any of his three previous MLB seasons, including last year, when he hit five with the Phillies in 120 plate appearances.
Tuesday’s dinger came in just Clemens’ 58th plate appearance as a Twin.
Acquired from the Phillies for cash considerations on April 26, Clemens hit his first Twins home run on May 3. Since then, he owns a .356/.442/.822 slash line. That slugging percentage and 1.265 OPS are the best in MLB among all hitters with at least 50 plate appearances during that span.
It’s little coincidence that the Twins are 17-4 since that date. And the two players directly behind Clemens in slugging percentage and OPS? Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
“It’s crazy when you give a guy a fresh breath of air, a new team, a new environment, and he comes in and learns how the dynamic works and then steps up and performs as well as he has,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said of Clemens. “He’s stepped up in huge spots for us and delivered.
“I think he’s a really good player, but he just hasn’t really gotten the opportunity to find his groove. It seems like he’s starting to do that here.”
“He's won games for us,” added manager Rocco Baldelli. “Today was another great example of the way he's been playing.”
Clemens is even playing well in spots where he has hardly been tested. Although he has spent much of his career as an infielder, Tuesday marked the fourth time in Clemens’ career that he was put in right field. He showed none of that inexperience in the fourth inning as he chased a Junior Caminero fly ball toward the line.
With Brandon Lowe on second and no one out, Clemens laid out to rob Caminero of possible extra bases. Although Lowe tagged up and advanced to third and eventually scored in that inning, Clemens’ catch helped prevent a much bigger inning. And with the Twins’ offense hampered by injuries to key players and struggling to score in bunches, any potential run saved is a huge boost.
“Kody made a nice play --- he doesn't even play that much outfield,” Baldelli said. “To see him go out there and keep contributing and do it on the defensive side of the ball in right field, he's a good baseball player.”
That run in the bottom of the fourth was the only one starting pitcher Joe Ryan allowed on the evening. If you look at the box score, Ryan’s outing looks similar to many of his recent ones. He pitched at least six innings and allowed no more than one earned run for the fifth consecutive start, lowering his ERA to 2.57.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Ryan dealt with a lot of traffic on the bases in the early innings. The volume in his PitchCom went haywire in the first inning, leading to a balk. Since the Rays know his repertoire well -- he was a seventh-round Draft pick by Tampa Bay in 2018, and he came up through its farm system before the Rays traded him to Minnesota in ‘21 -- Ryan was forced to reduce the use of his elite four-seamer in favor of more sinkers, sweepers and splitters.
Ryan also said the Rays’ dark City Connect uniforms blended into the home plate background so well that he had a hard time seeing left-handed batters.
“I was blind to those guys,” Ryan said.
But thanks to sheer talent and some of that aforementioned defense, Ryan helped set Minnesota up to win this series in Wednesday’s rubber match before the Twins board a cross-country flight to Seattle.
“He had to expand his usage today in ways he's not going to do most of the time,” Baldelli said of Ryan. “But when he has to, he can. It just shows adaptability. That's what the really good pitchers can do, just flip a switch.”