Twins rally after bullpen surrenders ninth-inning lead

One out away from winning for just the third time in games the Twins watched another late lead slip away on Friday The Twins however didn t fold After Cole Sands gave up a - lead in the Diamondbacks four-run ninth inning Minnesota rallied from an - deficit to beat the Diamondbacks - in front of at Target Field Kody Clemens hit his third home run of the night to start the ninth and make it - and the Twins loaded the bases with no outs against right-hander Jake Woodford Jhonny Pereda singled Woodford hit Byron Buxton and Austin Martin drew a walk to load the bases Left-hander Andrew Saalfrank came in to face lefty Trevor Larnach but walked him on five pitches and Luke Keaschall followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Buxton with the winning run Making his second start since returning from a shoulder injury that cost him three months Pablo Lopez gutted out five innings allowing only two unearned runs on four hits and three walks and Kody Clemens was for with three home runs and five RBIs for the Twins It was Clemens first career multi-homer contest and he became the th Twins participant to hit three home runs in a tournament Minnesota led - after six innings but as has been the occurrence so several times since the organization traded away three of its best relievers at the deadline the bullpen couldn t make it stick Kody Funderburk and Travis Adams each pitched scoreless innings but Michael Tonkin started the seventh and allowed a two-run home run to leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo before recording an out and Sands ran into big trouble in the ninth Lopez wasn t at his best but powered through five innings while the Twins lineup got confident against Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt who allowed five earned runs on nine hits including Clemens first two home runs Clemens double in the sixth off left-hander Kyle Backhus that scored Brooks Lee from first base to give the Twins a - lead Related Articles 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 Twins Austin Martin making bulk of opportunity