Kody Clemens Explains His Approach Against Braves Lefty Relievers

Atlanta went to a left-hander twice on Wednesday afternoon with Kody Clemens at the plate, and both times Clemens beat the move.

The first came with the bases loaded in the fifth, when Dylan Dodd replaced AJ Smith-Shawver and Clemens doubled to right-center for two runs.

The second came in the seventh with the game tied at four, when Dylan Lee came in and Clemens singled to right to score Josh Bell.

Minnesota won 6-4 at Target Field to finish a three-game sweep of the Braves, and with results elsewhere going its way, the team now holds the third and final wild card spot in the American League.

Kaelen Culpepper had three hits and Luke Keaschall had two, and the Twins built their first lead in the third when Victor Caratini came home on a Byron Buxton fielder's choice.

Atlanta tied it in the fifth on a Ronald Acuña Jr. single, then Minnesota put up three in the bottom half on a Bell walk with the bases loaded and the Clemens double.

The Braves pushed back with three in the sixth on a Lane Thomas single, an Ozzie Albies sacrifice fly and a run that scored on a balk.

Byron Buxton flied out to start the seventh, then Bell doubled, Clemens singled him in, and Brooks Lee added the sixth run before Yoendrys Gómez closed it out.

Three days before this game the Twins had just lost three in a row to Philadelphia and looked finished.

They then beat one of the best teams in baseball three straight times, and the win puts them a half game ahead of Texas for the last wild card spot.

That is a real turn, and it happened because the offense keeps producing from spots nobody planned on.

Culpepper has only been in the majors since early August and is hitting .314 in his first ten games, while Clemens is up to 21 home runs with a .758 OPS and keeps landing in the biggest at-bat of the night.

"I just try to stay disciplined in the zone and get the pitch I was looking for. Luckily I got a couple balls over the middle and put good swings on them," Clemens said.

Minnesota has leaned on help like that all year, whether it was Luke Keaschall talking about the group's brotherhood or Derek Shelton praising the top of the order after an earlier series win.

The bullpen has held up too, with Gómez saving all three games of the series.

Minnesota is off Thursday and then opens a three-game set at San Diego on Friday, with three more against the Athletics after that.

That is a long trip at a critical time on the calendar, and the Twins are doing it while sitting 63-65 and four games behind Chicago in the division, so the wild card is the most realistic path.

The rotation is the question, and moves like getting a new starter into the mix earlier this month matter more now than they did in July.