Kody Clemens drives 11-4 Twins win as Prielipp earns first MLB victory
kody clemens powered the Minnesota Twins to an 11-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night, homering and driving in five runs at Target Field. Connor Prielipp added the bigger pitching note, working through four hitless innings and earning his first major-league win as Minnesota snapped a five-game losing streak.
Target Field Pays Off
Prielipp carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and struck out five while using his slider 36 times in 84 pitches. He mixed in a curveball six times, and two of those came with swinging strikeouts.
His fastball averaged 94.8 mph and touched 97 mph in his debut, while the curveball averaged 82 mph and the changeup averaged 86 mph on Monday. That pitch mix gave the Twins something different from the hard slider that had long been the calling card in his profile.
Jeffers and Shelton
Ryan Jeffers described the assignment plainly: "He’s going to go out and have the ability to throw a lot of different pitches." He added, "The best starters can do that," and, "We ask a lot of them."
Derek Shelton said, "He did a better job with the curveball." He also said, "The Mets game, the curveball was basically nonexistent," then pointed to the difference Monday: "Today, the fact that he was able to come back, execute it."
Prielipp had thrown his slider 51 percent of the time against the New York Mets, but the curveball was part of the adjustment after he began throwing it in January. Shelton said, "Because if it’s just one breaking ball, then they’re going to make adjustments on it."
Kody Clemens Leads
Clemens gave the Twins breathing room with the home run and five RBIs, while Trevor Larnach, Jeffers, Luke Keaschall and Tristan Gray each added two hits. Minnesota’s offense backed a starter who has come back after two Tommy John surgeries and was last season’s minor-league pitcher of the year.
The win ended Minnesota’s five-game losing streak and gave the Twins a cleaner look at a pitcher whose off-speed work may decide how deep he can go next time out. Prielipp’s first big-league victory came with more than one usable secondary pitch, and that gives Minnesota a clearer read on what he can handle now.
