Kody Clemens continues to carve out role for himself moving forward

There s no telling where Kody Clemens might be had Kyle Hendricks errant pitch not struck Luke Keaschall s forearm in exactly the right spot to cause a fracture The night Keaschall got injured the Twins front office went on the prowl for a replacement Enter Clemens who hadn t gotten much of an early-season opportunity with the Philadelphia Phillies and had been in recent times been designated for assignment I keep telling everybody I m very grateful that the Twins brought me over here and gave me an opportunity to play Clemens reported I haven t had that in the big leagues and it s been a roller coaster every year for me hot and not hot and whatnot So I m just very thankful that they ve given me this leash and given me the opportunity to try and show what I ve got And it s definitely changed my career going forward Not much has gone right for the Twins this season but bringing in Clemens who hit three home runs and tied Kirby Puckett s single-game Twins record with total bases on Friday night is one thing that has Clemens hadn t received more than plate appearances in any season prior to this one But the Twins had a need and Clemens has filled it playing in his th tournament as a Twin on Saturday night In those games he has hit home runs And for his efforts he s determined plenty of assistance within the Twins clubhouse He s a guy that does all of the stuff you ask him to do every day manager Rocco Baldelli commented He handles that stuff really well He s got a great attitude He comes in ready to play And while there s no telling what the Twins roster might look like next year after an offseason that s likely to feature changes following yet another disappointing season Clemens has positioned himself well moving forward I think he s someone that can certainly help us and contribute to the Twins going forward Can t state specifics I don t know what goes on next year or the year after that here Baldelli stated But what I can tell you is he has a lot of traits we d desire And he also just wants to play He ll do whatever he can do to help himself and help the group And when you have an attitude like that it generally leads to good things happening to you and people valuing your contributions Laweryson gets the call Cody Laweryson has been one of the St Paul Saints best pitchers this season and on Friday for that he was ultimately rewarded with his first call up when the Twins placed Justin Topa on the injured list Laweryson who began his season at Double-A Wichita was promoted to Triple-A in early June and had a ERA across innings with the Saints Laweryson also spent time in at Triple-A It was shocking at the time he stated of getting the call I had high expectations for myself I had a really healthy offseason and felt ready to go At the time it was a very surprising moment but I m excited Briefly The Twins will send Bailey Ober to the mound on Sunday in the series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks With Friday s dramatic walk-off win Baldelli moved into a tie for third on the Twins all-time managerial win list with He tied Sam Mele and trails just Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire To appreciate that and be behind those two guys on that sort of list I think that s pretty sweet Baldelli noted Catcher Ryan Jeffers who is on the concussion injured list is doing more and he s doing better Baldelli noted Related Articles Twins rally after bullpen surrenders ninth-inning lead Twins Christian Vazquez returns from scary infection in shoulder Twins experiment on base paths is paying off Twins allow a run late fall to Angels in series finale Twins can t finish off innings or solve Kyle Hendricks in loss