Kody Clemens’ 0-2 Walk-Off Grand Slam Shocks Royals, Makes Twins History

Kody Clemens turned a near-certain loss into one of the wildest finishes of the 2026 MLB season, launching a walk-off grand slam on an 0-2 count to lift the Minnesota Twins past the Kansas City Royals 4-3 at Target Field on Thursday. The Twins were down to their final strike and had been no-hit through seven innings before Clemens’ blast off reliever Matt Strahm sent the Target Field crowd into a frenzy.

Clemens, the son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, has carved out a solid role for the Twins as a second baseman and utility bat since arriving via trade from the Philadelphia Phillies in 2025. The 30-year-old entered Thursday’s game already enjoying the best offensive stretch of his career, and the slam pushed his season home run total to 19 while marking his second career grand slam and his first walk-off homer at the major league level. Clemens, who wears No. 2 for Minnesota, has bounced between Detroit, Philadelphia and now the Twins since debuting in 2022, and Thursday’s swing instantly became the signature moment of a career that had, until now, mostly been defined by steady bench production rather than headline-grabbing heroics.

From No-Hit Bid to Walk-Off Chaos

Royals starter Noah Cameron delivered the game of his career, taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and facing the minimum through five before finishing with eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven. Kansas City closer Lucas Erceg took over in the ninth and looked ready to close it out, retiring the first two batters he faced. Then everything unraveled. Erceg hit Ryan Jeffers with a pitch, Royce Lewis singled, and Josh Bell drew a walk to load the bases, forcing the Royals to turn to left-hander Matt Strahm to face the left-handed-hitting Clemens.

Strahm got ahead 0-2, putting the Twins one strike from dropping the rubber match of the three-game series. Instead, Clemens turned on a hanging slider and drove it roughly 407 feet into the flower box above right-center field, sending Minnesota to a stunning 4-3 win in front of a stunned Target Field crowd. It was Minnesota’s second walk-off win over Kansas City in the span of three days, having also rallied from a ninth-inning deficit on Tuesday to take the series. For a Royals club that had gotten a career-best effort from its rookie starter, watching the bullpen blow both the no-hit bid and the win in the same inning made for a brutal finish on the road.

A Historic Swing in Twins and MLB Lore

The homer marked the 34th known “ultimate grand slam” in MLB history — defined as a walk-off homer with the team trailing by three runs — and the first ever produced by a Twins player, snapping a franchise drought that included six total walk-off grand slams, with Brian Dozier hitting the club’s previous one back in 2018. According to MLB.com, it’s also the first on record since pitch-tracking data began in 2000 to come on an 0-2 count, adding another layer of improbability to an already rare feat.

ESPN Research noted Clemens is the first player to hit a walk-off grand slam with his team down to its final strike since David Bote’s iconic blast for the Chicago Cubs against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 12, 2018 — a swing that was itself considered a near-statistical impossibility and remains one of the most replayed moments in recent MLB history. Bote’s homer erased a three-run, ninth-inning deficit with his team down to its last strike, and analysts at the time pegged the odds of that exact sequence occurring at well under one percent. Clemens now joins that exclusive company, cementing his spot as the author of a moment Twins fans will replay for years.

What It Means Going Forward

Beyond the historical novelty, Thursday’s win carries real weight in the standings as Minnesota continues to push through a crowded American League field in the season’s final stretch. Sweeping — or in this case, taking two of three via walk-off finishes — a divisional-caliber opponent like Kansas City provides exactly the kind of late-summer momentum contenders lean on. For a Royals team that got a career-best effort from Cameron only to see the bullpen surrender it in a single inning, the collapse will sting heading into the final off day before their next series. With Minnesota fighting for playoff positioning down the stretch, moments like Thursday’s have only strengthened the buzz around this Twins club — and for bettors tracking momentum swings, activity in the DraftKings promo code market shifted quickly following the finish. Fans looking to follow the rest of Minnesota’s schedule can also check odds coverage via the sportsbooks hub for updated lines as the stretch run continues.