MINNEAPOLIS -- Kody Clemens gave the Twins a jolt. Then he gave them a couple of sighs of relief.
Clemens tripled twice among three base hits, drove in a run, scored twice, and made the defensive play of the game as Minnesota held on for a more-difficult-than-it-should’ve-been 11-8 win over the Athletics at Target Field on Sunday.
Connor Prielipp pitched brilliantly in his return from the injured list and departed with a seven-run lead. But the A’s rallied against the Twins’ bullpen -- with help from a ball apparently lost in the sun -- to pull within two runs in the seventh before Clemens provided a giant exhale for his teammates and the assembled crowd at the ballpark on a hot afternoon.
With the lead down to 8-6 and a runner on second in the seventh inning, Jacob Wilson hit a liner to right field. Clemens, who plays all over the field but not all that often in right field, made an impressive full-extension diving catch to get out of an inning that was threatening to go from bad to catastrophic.
Then in the bottom of that same frame, he lined a one-out triple -- his second triple of the game -- and scored on a sacrifice fly to provide some breathing room. Clemens had two triples on the day, driving in a run with one in the first on a play where he scored on a throwing error.
It was a good day up and down for a Twins offense that has scuffled a bit lately. Ryan Kreidler had three doubles and two steals, Ryan Jeffers drove in two runs, and Austin Martin drove in one and scored two.