Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins

MINNEAPOLIS – Sometimes all it takes is one trigger, one moment, to start a hot streak. Maybe Kody Clemens and Ryan Jeffers provided that trigger on Monday night in an 11-1 Twins win over the Tigers. With one out in the fifth inning and Luke Keaschall on second base, Clemens worked a 12-pitch walk against the hard-throwing Jackson Jobe. After falling behind 1-2, Clemens battled Jobe through nine more pitches, seeing plenty of his fastball as well as all three of his offspeed pitches to reach base. That brought up Jeffers, who hadn’t homered in the first 30 days of August. The catcher took a slider out of the zone, fouled off a fastball in, and then pummeled a 97.3 mph four-seamer up above the strike zone for a three-run homer. The ball traveled a Statcast-projected 420 feet to left-center field, stretching a two-run Twins lead to a five-run cushion, and they never looked back. It spurred the Minnesota offense to a big win, and it might also have helped Jeffers as he shows more and more signs of emerging from a few weeks of numbers that haven’t been up to his usual standards.  Jeffers looked great immediately upon returning from an injured list stint due to a broken left hamate bone, but most of August didn’t see him hitting like he’s used to.