'Hawks' Clemens has monster inning

A few more innings like Tuesday and Koby Clemens may find his way to Houston sooner than he thinks.

Clemens homered twice in a nine-run second inning that carried the Oklahoma City RedHawks to a 9-3 thumping of the Round Rock Express.

The 2010 Texas League All-Star got Oklahoma City on the board with a leadoff blast. Two outs and four runs later, he sent starter Derek Hankins' first pitch over the left-field wall for a three-run shot. Clemens, who later singled, said he'd never homered twice in the same inning.

"It was a good drivable pitch. He (Derek Hankins) left it over the plate," he said of his second homer. "It was something I wanted to be aggressive on and it just snuck out of the park. It was crazy, I had never done anything like that before."

The son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Koby is off to a solid start in his first season at Triple-A with a .317 batting average, five homers and 17 RBIs in 17 games.

Over his last four contests, Clemens is 9-for-17 with three homers and eight RBIs. That follows a 1-for-16 series against Round Rock last week.

"I had a tough series before. They made some pitches on me, some diving plays and I had some bad at-bats," said Clemens, who climbed into fifth place in the Pacific Coast League in homers. "I just stayed the course, got some good pitches to hit and didn't change too much. I just stuck with what I am good with, and whatever happens happens."

Selected by the Astros in the eighth round of the 2005 Draft, Clemens' career took off in 2009 when he led the Minor Leagues with 123 RBIs and topped the Class A Advanced California League with a .345 average. He was a Texas League All-Star and co-Player of the Year for Corpus Christi last season, finishing with 26 homers and 85 RBIs despite a .241 average.

"The biggest key for me was taking it at-bat to at-bat and pitch-to-pitch and adjusting," Clemens said. "Confidence is always good, but you have to remember as you move up the pitchers get better. You take the good with the good and forget about the bad things.

"Everybody's good enough when you get to these levels, I just try to stay confident. If you're having a bad series try to find something positive in it."

With a former first-rounder in Brett Wallace starting at first base for the Astros, Clemens isn't worried about how this season will play out.

"Right now, obviously that's my goal, but I want to stay away from thinking about that because it can nip me in the bud," Clemens said. "It can get me down and things can tailspin. I just worry about the things I can do for this team. If I play well enough and I am deserving enough, hopefully I get a callup."

Clint Barmes doubled in a run as he continued a rehab assignment for the RedHawks, while Tommy Manzella went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.