Kody Clemens, Brooks Lee provide heroics as Twins walk Rays off again

Brooks Lee dropped down a perfectly-placed squeeze bunt up the first base line, Byron Buxton jogged home, and the Twins celebrated a walkoff win over the Rays for the second straight day at Target Field on Saturday afternoon.

Buxton kicked off the bottom of the ninth inning by drawing a walk after being down 0-2. Willi Castro slapped a single through the right side to move Buxton to third, bringing Lee to the plate. And on a first-pitch fastball from Garrett Cleavinger, Lee rolled a bunt right over the first base bag before being mobbed by his teammates.

WALK IT OFF, BROOKS!! pic.twitter.com/o1uM9EsM1Z
— Twins.TV (@twinstv) July 5, 2025

This was another much-needed come-from-behind win for the Twins, who beat the Rays when Harrison Bader's second home run of the day was a walkoff on Friday afternoon. They trailed for a good chunk of Saturday's game, but a big sixth inning and another clutch swing by Kody Clemens got them back into the contest.

Down 5-1 entering the sixth, the Twins got a pair of singles off of Tampa Bay starter Taj Bradley to knock him out of the game. In came Kevin Kelly, who was looking to bounce back after serving up Bader's walkoff blast one day earlier. Instead, he gave up an RBI single to Royce Lewis and then an opposite-field three-run homer to Clemens to tie the game. It was the tenth homer of the season for Clemens, who has been a huge piece of this Twins team since being acquired from the Phillies for virtually nothing in April.

#MNTwins acquired Kody Clemens from the Phillies for cash considerations on April 26.

Since then, Clemens ranks second among Twins hitters in both homers (10) and Win Probability Added (+0.7) behind only Byron Buxton.pic.twitter.com/8x9X4H8QQO
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 5, 2025

The Twins fell behind because bulk pitcher Travis Adams was hit hard in his MLB debut. After getting scoreless innings from Cole Sands and Danny Coulombe to kick off a bullpen day, the Twins turned things over to the 25-year-old Adams, who was rudely welcomed to the big leagues by the Rays' lineup. He allowed nine hits and five earned runs over four innings, allowing multiple hits in each frame he pitched. Adams recorded just one strikeout, the first of his career. The nine hits tied a Twins record for an MLB debut, most recently set by Kyle Lohse in 2001.

But the Twins' offense picked up their rookie pitcher and rallied to overcome a four-run deficit. Griffin Jax then tossed a scoreless seventh inning, and Jhoan Duran — for the first time all year — threw two frames. Duran stranded a pair of baserunners in both the eighth and ninth innings, capping his day by getting Junior Caminero to fly out on his 34th pitch (the most he's thrown in a game since 2023). That set the stage for the Twins' walkoff heroics.

Early on, the Twins had a chance to take hold of the game, but their struggles with the bases loaded continued. With nobody out and runners at every station, Lewis hit a little dribbler for an RBI single to open the scoring. But after that, Clemens struck out and Bader grounded out before Buxton flew out to left, not missing a grand slam by much.

The Twins are now 2 for their last 25 with the bases loaded and just 12 for 65 all season. That's a .185 batting average that is the worst in baseball.

This win was the 500th of manager Rocco Baldelli's career. It's the first time the Twins have won a series since they took three of four from the Athletics a month ago.

The Twins (43-46) will look to complete a sweep over the Rays (48-41) on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota ace Joe Ryan will pitch against Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen, with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. central time. If they can do it, it would be their first sweep since mid-May.