In a game that took three days, Twins beat Guardians in bottom of the ninth inning

Kody Clemens didn’t hit a heroic home run Wednesday afternoon. Turns out, line drives to center field work just as well.

Clemens gave the Twins the fourth-inning lead with a liner that Nolan Jones turned into an RBI triple, then lined one past Angel Martínez in the ninth, leading the Twins to their 14th win in 15 games, 6-5 over the Cleveland Guardians at Target Field.

The teams are playing a regularly scheduled game as well Wednesday.

The first game began Monday night, with Bailey Ober on the mound, but was cut short after three innings by rain with Minnesota leading 2-1. Clemens was on the bench for Monday’s portion; the Twins were fortunate to use him in the conclusion. In four plate appearances, Clemens tripled, laid down a sacrifice bunt that set up an eighth-inning run, then contributed the third walk-off hit of his career in the ninth.

With one out in the ninth, Ty France was hit by a pitch from Guardians reliever Cade Smith. It was the seventh time France has been hit this season, tying him for the AL lead.

Jonah Bride, like Clemens a midseason emergency acquisition, then contributed his third hit of the game, a single that moved France to second base. After getting ahead 3-0, Clemens fouled off a fastball, then drilled the next one from Smith over Martínez’s glove for the game-winner.

The Twins only needed Clemens’ heroics because their starter-turned-reliever turned in a better “relief” appearance than the team’s actual closer.

Joe Ryan allowed three runs over five-plus innings, technically the first relief appearance of his major league career. He surrendered a solo home run to former teammate Carlos Santana two batters into his day, then shut down the Guardians on only one more hit, an infield single, until the ninth.

But a long eighth inning by the Twins — they sent seven batters to the plate, scoring one run on Harrison Bader’s single — might have affected Ryan in the ninth. José Ramirez led off the ninth with a double off the wall, and Ryan walked Kyle Manzado on four pitches. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli summoned closer Jhoan Duran to finish off the Guardians. But for the first time in a save situation all year, he couldn’t.

Duran got Santana to hit into a forceout, but Jones singled Ramirez home. After Gabriel Arias struck out, Duran worked the count to 3-2 on Bo Naylor. But his next pitch was across the middle, and Naylor bashed it off the right-field wall, just inside the foul pole. Two runs scored, tying the game at 5-5.

BOXSCORE: Twins 6, Cleveland 5

All that just to set up Clemens’ latest heroics, which were much needed for the Twins: They improved to just 5-13 against the Central Division’s defending champs over the past two seasons. Clemens owns an OPS of over 1.000 and three home runs since joining the team about one month ago.

The Twins led 2-1 when rain arrived Monday, and Santana’s homer briefly tied the score. But the Twins immediately regained the lead against Cleveland’s Jakob Junis, an actual reliever.

Trevor Larnach led off the fourth inning with a single and scored when Clemens drove a sinking line drive into center field. Jones made an ill-advised attempt at a diving catch, missing by at least 4 feet, and the ball rolled to the center-field wall. By the time left fielder Steven Kwan retrieved it, Clemens was on third base and Larnach had given the Twins the lead again.

When Bader followed with a fly ball to shallow center field, Clemens slid home just ahead of Jones’ throw to the plate, widening the lead to 4-2.