MINNEAPOLIS — For an instant on Thursday afternoon, Tristan Gray was bewildered when a reporter asked him for his Super Bowl prediction. But the request only seemed fitting, after the Minnesota Twins utilityman forecast one of the more improbable moments in team history.
Standing along the dugout railing 30 minutes prior, Gray suggested to two teammates that Kody Clemens would see a hanging slider and blast it for a walk-off grand slam. Seconds later, Clemens received a cement mixer of an 0-2 slider from Matt Strahm and promptly deposited it into the first row of seats in right-center field.
The first walk-off home run of Clemens’ career set off a raucous celebration in the clubhouse, as the Twins went from having no pulse to running a marathon, delivering an unbelievable 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Target Field. Returning to the .500 mark with their second walk-off victory in three days, a Twins clubhouse normally adept at handling the big moments with calm cranked up the volume and let loose.
“I went from being extremely pissed, just very candidly, to pure elation,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “This one is not an even-keel. … I was not in a good headspace. But we will celebrate this one.”
For 119 pitches on Thursday, there was no celebration, only consternation.
Struggling once again against a left-handed pitcher, the Twins looked lifeless. A day after they were shut out for the second time on the homestand, the Twins were held hitless for six innings by Royals starter Noah Cameron, who overall provided eight scoreless frames of one-hit ball.
“I wasn’t happy with our approach,” Shelton said. “(Cameron) threw the ball extremely well. I just didn’t think we adjusted well.”
Kansas City reliever Lucas Erceg took over and quickly dispatched the first two batters of the ninth inning. At that point, it seemed all but certain that a Twins team that has scored 47 runs in 13 games in the second half would be shut out again and head to Seattle without having scored in 18 innings.
Then a 1-0 sinker got away from Erceg and hit catcher Ryan Jeffers. Erceg appeared to shake it off, quickly getting ahead of Royce Lewis 0-2 in the count. But Lewis, who provided Tuesday’s walk-off winner, fought back and grounded a 2-2 slider for a single up the middle to bring up Josh Bell. Bell also fell behind 0-2 in the count before taking four straight balls to load the bases, the last ball confirmed after an ABS challenge by Kansas City.
“I was kind of holding my breath,” Bell said of the challenge. “I knew what my eyes told me, but I didn’t know how far back the changeup tailed.”
The walk to Bell prompted a pitching change to the left-handed Strahm, who was called upon to face Clemens for a left-on-left situation. Though Clemens fell behind 0-2 in the count, Gray, who had hit two of the Twins’ previous three grand slams, made his prediction to Bell and Alex Jackson.
“I just had a feeling,” Gray said. “After the two sinkers, I figured he might try to go slider off the plate. ‘He’s going to hang it, and Clem’s not going to miss it.’ I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Did he get it?’ Then I looked at Clem, and I was like, ‘I guess he got it,’ and I ran to the water cooler.”
While Gray grabbed the water cooler to douse his fellow Texan with an ice bath, Clemens celebrated his homer. The instant he made contact, Clemens was certain he’d done the job and skipped down the line to first base.
“I hammered it,” Clemens said. “Like, I felt it was back-spun to right-center, and I knew it off the bat. It was an unreal feeling.”
Standing next to Gray after he’d been pinch run for, Bell said the feeling he experienced is one he hadn’t encountered this season. Of course it came from Clemens, who has developed a taste for these moments. Of his 52 career homers, 20 have tied the score or put Clemens’ team in the lead.
“Tristan called it,” Bell said. “It was cool. That was the loudest I’ve heard this stadium. That was the loudest I’ve heard our dugout. It’s what dreams are made of.”
More thoughts on the Twins after a difficult 4-2 homestand:
• As Joe Ryan assessed his latest outing Wednesday, he looked as if he’s searching for answers. From the first inning to the sixth, Ryan’s average fastball velocity dipped by more than 2 miles per hour.
Ryan, who previously said there’s “zero concern” his dead arm issue would lead to an injured list stint, battled balance and “lower half stuff” in his first outing since surrendering six home runs on July 20. Ryan acknowledged he doesn’t often need this much time to determine why he’s struggling.
“It’s been a while,” Ryan said. “Just got to keep digging and trying to figure it out. I kind of know what’s going on. It’s not like a scary thing, by any means. I’m not concealing anything. It’s just something frustrating.”
Whatever it is, Ryan is off, and that must be concerning for the Twins, who already are without the services of All-Star Byron Buxton. Throughout his career, Ryan has struggled after the All-Star break, posting a 4.96 ERA in those 47 starts versus a 3.17 ERA in 90 games (89 starts) before it.
Thursday morning, Shelton said he thinks Ryan is “close” but searching for consistency in his delivery.
“You’re just hearing a little general frustration of a guy that’s had two starts that aren’t up to his standard,” Shelton said. “He doesn’t look that out of sync. There’s times where there’ll be two or three hitters where he doesn’t look like he’s in his mechanics. But the one thing with Joe, probably as much as any player I’ve ever been around, is he’s hyper aware of how his body moves. He’s going to know when he’s out of sync, and no one else to the human eye can see it. But he feels it, and sometimes that can derail you for a pitch or two.”
• After receiving an injection, Buxton is expected to miss at least seven days, Shelton said. The lengthy absence made it easy for the Twins to place their three-time All-Star on the 10-day injured list for the second time this month with a right hip impingement.
“At this juncture, we just weren’t going to play short with it,” Shelton said. “Even in that regard, I think most importantly, we need to try to minimize this and get this knocked out with this injection so the rest of the year he’s healthy.”
Though Buxton could miss the entire road trip, it didn’t prevent him from traveling with the team to Seattle.
• Cole Sands is out for the season, as he’ll undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery Tuesday. Though he had been successfully rehabbing, Sands missed nearly three months with right elbow issues. He returned Sunday, surrendering five earned runs in 1 1/3 innings, and immediately went back on the IL. Sands said the procedure will remove loose bodies and bone spurs in his right elbow and he’ll receive a platelet-rich plasma injection.
