BLOOMINGTON (Interstat) — Kody Clemens hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Target Field.

The Twins entered the inning trailing 3-0 and managed only three hits all afternoon before their dramatic rally. With the Royals three outs away from their second straight win in the series, Minnesota’s offense finally broke through. Trevor Larnach struck out and Victor Caratini lined out to start the inning, leaving the Twins with one out and no baserunners. But Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch, and Royce Lewis followed with a single to center field. Josh Bell then drew a walk on a checked swing that was upheld after a challenge, loading the bases.

Clemens, who had struck out in his previous at-bat, drove the first pitch he saw from Kansas City reliever Matt Strahm over the right-center field wall. It was his 19th home run of the season and gave the Twins a come-from-behind victory.

The loss dropped the Royals to 46-64, while the Twins improved to 55-55.

Kansas City had taken the lead in the third inning when Jac Caglianone hit a two-run homer to right field, scoring John Rave, who had doubled earlier. The Royals added a run in the fifth when Rave doubled again, driving in Carter Jensen, with an error by right fielder Kody Clemens allowing the run to score. Rave finished with two doubles and two RBIs.

Bailey Ober started for Minnesota and worked six innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out three. He left with the Twins trailing 3-0. Taylor Rogers and Andrew Morris each tossed a scoreless inning of relief before Yoendrys Gómez pitched the ninth and earned the win, allowing two hits while striking out one. Gómez improved to 2-0.

Strahm took the loss, falling to 3-4. He entered in the ninth and faced only four batters, failing to retire any of them before Clemens ended the game.

Kansas City outhit Minnesota 8-3, but the Royals stranded seven runners and hit into a double play in the eighth inning. The teams combined for seven runs, with all three of Minnesota’s hits coming in the final three innings.

The game lasted 2 hours, 23 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 22,944.

The Royals had won the opener of the three-game series Wednesday, 4-0, after losing Tuesday’s contest 3-2. The Twins had dropped six of their previous nine games before Thursday’s rally.

Minnesota will travel to Seattle for a weekend series beginning Friday, while Kansas City heads to Colorado.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Kansas City 6, Minnesota 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave Minnesota a 55.20 percent probability to win. The Twins were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total of seven runs went over the over-under line of 9.5.