Kody Clemens ends a rough stretch with two homers at Wrigley Field, but Twins fall to Cubs

Kody Clemens was already into the at-bat when Caleb Thielbar reached for his go-to in the form of a sweeper. According to MLB’s game report, Clemens saw the first one well enough to foul back, then watched a second spin just off the plate after Thielbar returned to the pitch for a third consecutive sweepers sequence. The adjustment ultimately landed in Clemens’s favor, and it came with two homers that helped reset the tone of the day at Wrigley Field.

The blast production arrived in the context of a skid that Clemens was trying to escape. MLB’s account frames the two-homer performance as the key to “snapping out” of that stretch, highlighting how his patience and timing changed as Thielbar cycled through similar breaking-ball shapes. Rather than get sped up, Clemens worked the pitches to contact, then turned that contact into the kind of swing that changes the scoreboard in a hurry.

For Minnesota, Clemens’s day stood out because it did not come from one isolated swing. The report emphasizes the repeated use of sweepers by Thielbar, including the sequence in which Clemens fouled one off after it caught enough of the inner half. In the following look, Thielbar tried another breaking ball that stayed close to the plate, and Clemens made him pay with authority.

Even with Clemens driving the narrative, the game story still landed on Chicago. The MLB report ties the two-homer output to a Twins loss to the Cubs, underscoring that one strong offensive day did not carry the team across the finish line. That distinction matters because it frames Clemens’s performance as a personal momentum swing, not a full-game solution for the lineup.

The most telling aspect of the inning-by-inning backdrop is how quickly a bullpen matchup can flip once a hitter makes contact that carries. Thielbar’s decision to keep returning to the sweeper suggests the Cubs believed the pitch would travel well against Clemens, but the report makes clear that Clemens was neither fooled nor overeager. By extending the plate and forcing decisions on close breaking balls, he turned a recurring pattern into two home runs.

This performance also offers a clearer lens on what teams tend to do in late-game planning. When a reliever continues repeating a breaking-ball sequence, it usually implies scouting notes and a belief that the hitter will chase or misread the release point. Clemens’s response, as described by MLB, suggests that sometimes the counter is simple: see it twice, then convert the third look into hard contact.

What to watch next is whether Clemens sustains the improved rhythm after the skid. If this two-homer effort is a genuine turning point, Minnesota’s lineup will likely get more leverage when pitchers attempt to repeat breaking-ball patterns rather than vary their attack. For Chicago, the follow-up question is how their bullpen will adjust against Clemens specifically, especially if other hitters in the Twins order provide enough threat to draw attention away from him.