MINNEAPOLIS – On what was overall a frustrating defensive night for the Twins, a career utility man playing first base made all the highlight plays.
Kody Clemens hit two home runs and made a pair of nifty defensive plays in the 8-6 loss to the Royals. It was a continuation of a trend that has seen Clemens become Minnesota's latest unlikely plus defensive first baseman.
The homers were his seventh and eighth of the season, and it's the second multi-homer game of his Major League career. He hit three at Arizona last September. They were also his sixth and seventh home runs against Kansas City in his career – his most against a single team.
“Kody had a big night,†said manager Derek Shelton.
On the defensive side, he made two more plays that exemplify his impressive transition to first. He never played the position in college, and made only 32 appearances there in the Minor Leagues, playing mostly second base and some outfield. But after the Twins' Trade Deadline selloff last July, he took over as the primary first baseman. And even after the additions of Victor Caratini and Josh Bell, he's made by far the most starts and played the most innings at first for the 2026 Twins.
With the bases loaded in the second inning, Bobby Witt scorched a hard ground ball to Clemens' left. He made the diving stab and threw home from his knees to get the forceout, preventing what could have been multiple runs.
An inning later, Salvador Perez hit a popup into foul territory down the first-base line, and Clemens chased it down and made an acrobatic catch to get the leadoff out. Entering the game, Clemens rated plus-one outs above average at first base, after grading out plus-three there down the stretch last season.
“I feel super comfortable,†he said. “I’ve played over there now for a while. Just the more action you get, the more comfortable you get. A couple tricky plays, probably need to find the ball a bit quicker on the foul ball [in the third], but other than that, feel good over there.”
His emergence as a quality defender continues a curious trend for the Twins. In 2024, Carlos Santana signed as a free agent with Minnesota and won his first career Gold Glove as the Twins' first baseman. Last year, it was Ty France winning his first career Gold Glove at first after signing with the Twins, though he finished the year with Toronto after a trade.
At the plate, the two homers continued a strong run of late for Clemens. He now has four homers and seven extra-base hits in his last nine games.
