MINNEAPOLIS -- Kody Clemens, down to his last strike, hit a game-ending grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning as the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Thursday after being no-hit by Noah Cameron until the seventh.
After Cameron threw eight shutout innings in his career-long start, Royals closer Lucas Erceg retired the first two batters, then hit Ryan Jeffers with a 2-0 pitch, gave up a single to Royce Lewis and walked Josh Bell to load the bases.
Matt Strahm (3-4) relieved Erceg before Clemens smacked his 0-2 slider into the flower box above right-center field for his second career slam and the sixth walk-off grand slam in Twins history. Brian Dozier had the last one in 2018.
"That's stuff that you dream about ... stuff like that when you're a little kid," Clemens said after the game. "That's what you envision. That was awesome."
According to ESPN Research, Clemens is the first player with a walk-off grand slam with his team down to its final strike since Aug. 12, 2018, when the Chicago Cubs' David Bote belted one to beat the Washington Nationals.
Clemens, who is second on the team with 19 home runs, said it was his first walk-off home run in the major leagues.
"It was over the middle, which was surprising," he said of the pitch. "Obviously, I was behind [0-2], but I got a good pitch to hit. ... I hammered it. It was backspun to right center, and I knew it off the bat. It was an unreal feeling."
The Twins had lost 508 consecutive games -- dating to July 2015 -- after trailing by three or more runs entering their final at-bats entering Thursday's game, while the Royals had won 242 straight when leading by three or more entering the ninth inning or later, per ESPN Research.
It was the 21st blown save of the season for the Royals, which is tied for third-most in MLB.
Cameron threw 97 pitches, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven batters and stretching his individual streak to 16 consecutive scoreless innings. Jeffers hit a clean single to right-center field to start the seventh and end the bid for Kansas City's first no-hitter since Bret Saberhagen in 1991.
Twins closer Yoendrys Gomez pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory as Minnesota (55-55), which improved to 10-2-1 in 13 series since June 12, enters a nine-game road trip that begins on Friday at Seattle.
Minnesota is in third place in the American League Central, three games behind the White Sox and one game behind the Guardians. The wild-card race puts them even closer to postseason contention, one game behind the Guardians for the third and final spot.
The trade deadline this year is on Monday (6 p.m. ET), when the Twins are off before starting a series in Kansas City on Tuesday.
Their latest feel-good win added yet more fuel for the front office to be in buy mode this time instead of a redux of their massive sell-off last summer when the Twins made nine trades and jettisoned 40% of the major league roster, including four high-leverage relievers.
"I think it'd be awesome if it was very dramatic just in the other direction. I think it'd be awesome to go get some real big key pieces here," Lewis said. "Anything you can add to this team, I think it's going to be a boost emotionally for us on a team that's already thriving and having so much fun in the clubhouse."
One trade chip could be Jeffers, who is on an expiring contract and could be useful toward acquiring pitching help.
General manager Jeremy Zoll said this week the goal is to add to the current team and not subtract. Owner Tom Pohlad, who's been working hard to try to restore faith in the club within the fan base, said earlier this month he's not interested in the type of cost-cutting moves initiated last year by his younger brother, Joe Pohlad, when he was the controlling owner.
"We're going to focus on finding to continue to improve the bullpen and that'll be a clear focus," said Zoll, who has the lead role this year after the departure of president of baseball operations Derek Falvey. "Beyond that, we're going to be open to a variety of creative paths, and you never know what might come about."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.