Kody Clemens didn’t just play a game at Fenway Park on Saturday — he took the spotlight in a place where his father once owned the stage.
In the sixth inning of a tight 1-1 game, Clemens demolished a Hunter Dobbins slider deep into the right-field seats for a two-run homer, giving Minnesota a lead it never relinquished in a 4-3 win over the Red Sox. The moment wasn’t just dramatic — it was generational.
“It’s up there, for sure,” Clemens said of the home run, per The Boston Globe. “I mean, the family ties and everything. So fortunately, got a good pitch there and put a good swing on it.”
That swing turned Fenway’s buzz into stunned silence, even as the crowd of 36,250 recognized the history behind the highlight. In the suite above the action, Roger Clemens — the seven-time Cy Young winner who once owned the Back Bay stage — was on his feet with the rest of the Clemens clan, witnessing his son’s first-ever game in the park he dominated from 1984 to 1996.
“It’s a big-time home run for us as a team,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But that’s a sweet moment. He’s got his whole family here. He’s at Fenway Park. Obviously, his dad had so much history in this place with these fans.”
A Home Run That Echoed Through Red Sox History
Roger Clemens won 192 games and struck out 2,590 batters in a Red Sox uniform. He famously punched out 20 Mariners in a single game in 1986, igniting a playoff run that helped define his Boston legacy. But in all his time at Fenway, The Rocket never cleared a fence — zero career home runs in 179 big league at-bats. Kody now has 15.
Kody Clemens homers in his first game at Fenway Park … of course Roger Clemens was there to go crazy for it!
“Don’t remember it when I was young,” the younger Clemens said, referencing his dad’s Red Sox days. “Just seeing the videos of him when he was here with Boston. Now, being here is full circle. It’s crazy.”
Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe noted the moment with poetic weight: “Roger Clemens made Fenway Park roar so many times during his 13 seasons as a member of the Red Sox. His son silenced the place on Saturday.”
The ball from that blast didn’t stay gone for long. After it was thrown back onto the field and briefly passed around by fans, Roger Clemens himself managed to track it down, swapping signed items to retrieve the souvenir that marked a full-circle moment in his family’s baseball saga.
It wasn’t the first time Kody had stepped inside Fenway, but it was the first time he’d suited up. He made the most of it. The 28-year-old, acquired by Minnesota in late April, had previously played for the Tigers and Phillies before finally breaking through in Boston — not as a Sox prospect, but as a visitor rewriting the script.
“I always wanted to play here,” he said. “I love the atmosphere and how the fans feel like they’re right on top of you. They’re engaged in the game. It’s exciting.”
The game’s outcome — a 4-3 Red Sox loss — barely registered compared to the image: Roger Clemens, beaming, watching his kid do something he never did at Fenway — send one into the seats.
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