MILWAUKEE — Kody Clemens saw Luis Lara approach the wall and believed he’d done his job.

At worst, the Minnesota Twins slugger expected an extra-base hit off the right-field fence. If things were truly in his favor, Clemens would soon be trotting around the bases after hitting his second home run of the day.

Instead, Lara tracked down the 348-foot drive and hauled it in before slamming into a support column and collapsing.

Lara’s 10th-inning catch Sunday afternoon was the second of two spectacular grabs by the Milwaukee Brewers’ right fielder, and it proved pivotal in his team’s 4-3 win over the Twins at American Family Field. Minutes later, Jake Bauers slapped a two-strike changeup from Yoendrys Gómez into left field, and Brice Turang slid into home just ahead of Clemens’ throw as Milwaukee claimed a second straight one-run victory, grabbing the rubber match of a three-game series.

Five of the Twins’ last six losses have come by one-run margins, and the team wrapped up a 3-6 trip that dropped Minnesota to 58-61.

“As soon as (Lara) got to the wall, it was like, ‘Hell, yeah, it’s going to be off the wall or over,’” Clemens said. “And he made an unbelievable catch. … It felt like a playoff series. I thought we played them well. We lost those last two games late. Sometimes, that’s how it goes.”

In a game started by Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, the Twins — who struck out 15 times Sunday — played well enough to force extra innings. Even though Misiorowski lit up the radar gun early with a fastball that topped out at 103.9 mph, the Twins managed to rally twice against the two-time All-Star.

Twins third baseman Brooks Lee blasted a score-tying homer off Misiorowski in the fifth inning. Then, in the sixth, Clemens blasted a two-run homer with two outs to tie the score again.

Unfortunately, that’s all the Twins could muster.

Four Brewers relievers limited the Twins to one hit over four scoreless innings. Minnesota stranded runners with the bases loaded twice, as Aaron Ashby struck out Royce Lewis to end the seventh and Abner Uribe retired Austin Martin on an inning-ending fielder’s choice in the eighth. The Twins finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“You’re looking for a break,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “We had opportunities to capitalize on, and we did not capitalize on them.”

To be fair, Brewers hitters didn’t do much with their chances, either.

Lee gave Milwaukee a chance to pull ahead in the bottom of the sixth, when he threw to first base for an out even though he could have tagged the base runner or retreated to third for a force play. But reliever Tommy Nance pitched around it with a weak flyout and a strikeout to strand two Brewers in scoring position.

A.J. Minter escaped a seventh-inning jam. Andrew Morris and Kody Funderburk stranded runners in the eighth and ninth innings as well.

Before Bauers’ walk-off hit on a 1-2 changeup that was low and away, Milwaukee was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“They’re comparable to a team in football that grinds you down,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We’re going to limit their runs and put enough pressure on them, run the bases, play really good defense that eventually they’re going to crack. That’s kind of the brand of baseball they play. … Look at the plays Lara made out in right. They run the bases. They bunt. And that’s how they win. They’re one of the best teams in baseball for a reason.”

After going 1-5 in one-run contests on this trip, the Twins are 14-19 in those contests for the season. If they want to make a postseason run, the Twins need to figure out a way to win close games.

Here are additional thoughts on the Twins after a tough, but entertaining, weekend in Wisconsin.

• The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Twins open a nine-game homestand with series against the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. After that, they head to San Diego and Sacramento to play the Padres and A’s, followed by 12 straight games against the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox.

• He didn’t start, but Kaelen Culpepper took grounders at shortstop during batting practice and was available a day after he was hit by two pitches. Playing in his second big-league game, Culpepper was hit in the knee and shoulder. He also drew a walk in the team’s losing effort, but with his having only returned from a glute strain July 24, the Twins planned to rest the rookie. Combined with three games at Triple-A St. Paul, Culpepper played in five straight contests. “We knew that when we called him up, we were going to play him the first two days and not play in the third day because he had played in St. Paul before he got up here, before we decided to call him up,” Shelton said. “It’s just part of the progression.”

Culpepper became the fastest player in Twins history to be hit by two pitches, accomplishing the feat in 31 fewer games than David Ortiz.

“That’s insane,” Culpepper said. “That’s pretty good company right there, I guess.”

• If you’re squeamish, stop reading here. Zebby Matthews’ foot issues continue to crop up, and there doesn’t seem to be any easy solution. After taking the mound to warm up for the sixth inning, Matthews exited Friday’s start because the blister on his right foot began bleeding, an issue that also ended his July 4 outing at Yankee Stadium. “That mound in New York was rock-hard because of how hot it was, and he ripped it open,” Shelton said. “We’re trying to laser it to get it to the point where it’s manageable. It’s manageable, but the wear and tear of multiple pitches rips it off.”

Matthews is wearing a pitching toe, an application intended to prevent the shoe from ripping or wearing through when Matthews drags his foot across the dirt. Matthews is frustrated because “we keep covering it, and it keeps ripping.”

With the season in full swing and Matthews starting every fifth day, he can’t sit long enough for the laceration to heal. That forces him to pitch with the cut as long as he can. On Friday, Matthews lasted three innings after things got bad in the second inning.

“I had a small tear in the foot in the second, and it gradually ripped open as the outing went,” Matthews said. “Again, very frustrating. But as a competitor, you want to stay out there and pitch. You don’t want to come out in the third and have the bullpen cover that many innings.”

Derek McInnes is still looking for his first win as Rangers manager after Hibernian netted an injury-time winner to triumph 2-1 at Ibrox.

There was nervousness about Rangers in the early stages and Hibs found the opener through Josh Campbell’s 12th-minute penalty, which was awarded by VAR for a foul by Vanja Dragojevic on Jason Kerr.

Rangers, who had 25 shots, got level in the 85th minute when Djeidi Gassama’s low cross was turned in by Hibs’ Miguel Chaiwa.

But there was a late twist to come as Hibernian broke from a corner and Callum Wright’s deflected shot found a way into the far corner.

It capped a miserable first game for McInnes at Ibrox, who also saw star striker Youssef Chermiti – subject to a failed bid by Galatasaray for a reported club record fee of £22m – carried off the pitch on a stretcher.

With Celtic and St Mirren both on six points from two Premiership games, Rangers are five points behind and already chasing with McInnes looking for his first win after three matches in the Ibrox hot seat.

The key moments from Ibrox

12: VAR! The referee is instructed to come to the screen to review a grapple between Dragojevic and Kerr. He awards the penalty.

13: GOAL! Campbell buries the spot kick to give Hibs a 1-0 lead.

25: OFF THE LINE! Chermiti thinks he’s scored but Megwa makes a brilliant clearance off the line.

37: CHERMITI STRETCHED OFF! The Rangers striker takes a nasty tumble into the advertising boards and suffers a match-ending injury.

62: OFF THE BAR! Lawrence Shankland’s deflected effort is tipping onto the crossbar by Raphael Sallinger.

83: GOAL! Rangers finally make the breakthrough as Chaiwa’s turns the ball into his own net.

90+3: GOAL! With Rangers pushing for the winner, Hibs break and Wright manages to squeeze a shot into the bottom corner.

McInnes ‘understands’ fan frustration

Rangers manager Derek McInnes speaking to Premier Sports: “We were guilty of passing up opportunities in the first half and not playing forward enough.

“I’ve seen it back, I don’t think it’s a penalty but we have a lot of the game to try and rectify that. I thought it was very soft and surprised the referee is brought over for it [to the monitor].

“When the ball did go into our strikers we were far more effective and I felt the equaliser was deserved and we wanted to win the game. I can’t fault my players’ effort.

“There are little things going against us at the minute but we have to stay strong, we’re not as bad as people think.

“At the minute we are trying to work boys back to the same level of fitness and trying to manage that situation.

“I understand the fan frustration, they want and expect to see their team win. I share the frustration.”

Gray: There’s more to come from Hibs

Hibs head coach David Gray said: “Rangers put us under severe pressure for the second half, the character was really tested but we made an attacking substitution to try and have that mentality of not just sitting in, even with the Rangers pressure.

“I’m delighted for the players because we made a lot of changes and the players that came in did really well, it builds that character.

“The type of game suits Josh Mulligan. To a man I think it would be difficult to single anyone out because they were all so good.

“I’ve been through adversity at the start. The demands and expectations are always going to be there. The biggest thing is sticking together as a group. Internally we know we’re in a good place, there’s more to come.”

What the result means and next fixtures…

Sun Goddess came from last to first to provide Aidan O’Brien with his 18th win in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

Johannesburg (2001), George Washington (2005), Holy Roman Emperor (2006) and Caravaggio (2016) are just a few of the big names to have won this Group One prize over the years and Sun Goddess was the 5-4 favourite to add to that tally under Ryan Moore.

The daughter of Sioux Nation – who also won this race for the same connections in 2017 – had won each of her two previous starts over the course and distance, including a Group Two on her latest outing, with a runner-up finish behind George Boughey’s Libertango in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot sandwiched in between.

With stablemate Carry The Flag setting a furious early pace, Moore was content to bide his time aboard Sun Goddess, but she came through stylishly on the far side of the track, racing inside the final two furlongs and was well on top as she passed the post a length and a quarter clear of Folsom Blues.

O’Brien said: “She’s a beautiful filly. She ran well at Naas the first day then came back here to win her maiden and then she went to Ascot probably a little under par, with the benefit of hindsight.

“Then she came back here a week after and won even though she was in Ascot the week before. She’s obviously very special and everything went really well since Ascot.”

He added: “She has a lot of gears and a very high cruising pace. Ryan said they went fast and he just said when he started to ask her she motored clear. He said she’ll have no problem getting seven furlongs. She’s very exciting.”

Big Mojo bounces back to winning ways at the Curragh

Big Mojo made the most of having his sights lowered with victory in the FBD Hotels And Resorts Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh.

Mick Appleby’s colt showed his worth at the highest level last season, winning the Sprint Cup at Haydock as well as finishing a neck second to No Half Measures in the July Cup at Newmarket.

The four-year-old has struggled so far this year, finishing down the field at York, Royal Ascot and on his second attempt at July Cup glory last month, but he had less on his plate in Ireland and stamped his class with a one-and-a-quarter-length verdict over Bucanero Fuerte under Tom Marquand.

A return to Haydock looks to be on the agenda, as does the Breeders’ Cup, and Appleby, saddling his first winner on Irish soil, said of the 5-4 favourite: “He’s done it well. We brought him here just to give him a bit more confidence, really. I think he was just lacking a bit in confidence with the big races he’s run in.

“Now that he’s got his head back in front hopefully he’ll go and do it again. He’s as good as ever. He’s just got a bit more laid-back, like me! It’s hard to win these races.

“There are a lot of good sprinters about. He’s done it well enough. He only did what he wanted to do. There’s a lot more there.”

Michael O’Callaghan is confident Push The Boat Out can make his mark at a higher level following his successful debut in the Follow Us On Instagram @ GuidenstownStud Irish EBF Maiden.

Although not that well fancied in the market at 16-1, the Kodi Bear colt quickened smartly to record a comfortable victory under Colin Keane and it came as no surprise to his trainer.

O’Callaghan said: “He’s a horse we’ve held in high regard from the moment we got him, but saying that I did have him slightly undercooked because he’s very natural at home.

“He jumped and travelled with a lot of natural pace and quickened up well. Colin was quite taken by him and said he should have no problem stepping up into stakes company.

“I don’t think he’ll have any problem going another furlong and I think he could be a high-class stakes horse. We’ll see how he is in the morning and see what there is between now and the National Stakes and go from there.”

Aidan O’Brien’s Ibelieveicanfly (13-8 favourite) opened her account at the fourth attempt in the Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race.

Fourth, second and fourth in her first three races, the daughter of Frankel was fitted with a hood for her latest assignment and came good in some style, rewarding her supporters with a dominant five-length win in the hands of Ryan Moore.

“The better the race, the better she is going to be – she has such a high cruising pace,” said O’Brien.

“In an ordinary run maiden, she is just in a gear too high. She has a lot of class. There was plenty of pace on and Ryan was very happy with her.”

O’Brien and Moore doubled up in the Guidenstown Stud Irish European Breeders Fund Maiden with 8-15 favourite Shakespeare.

The son of Dubawi had shown a good level of ability with placed efforts on his first two starts and duly made it third time lucky without too much fuss.

O’Brien added: “He’s a lovely big horse who does everything right. He’s a little bit of a baby. That’s why it took two runs for him to get to where he is.

“He’s still not there. He has a lot of ability and is in the ‘could be anything’ category, really.

“Size, power, quality, speed, stamina – he has everything. Hopefully he’s going to be something to look forward to.”