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Roger Clemens' son, who is not a pitcher, makes MLB pitching debut

Detroit Tigers rookie Kody Clemens, son of MLB pitching legend Roger Clemens, made his debut as a big league pitcher on Wednesday.

The moment would have held much more weight had it not been for the inconvenient fact that the younger Clemens normally plays second base. And that the Tigers were losing by 11 runs when he took the mound.

It was that kind of game for Detroit, currently struggling through another season at 24-38, as the team needed to use three different position players as pitchers to get through a 13-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Clemens pitched the eighth inning, and any fans hoping to see the kind of heat his father delivered were probably a little disappointed. The 26-year-old topped out at 49.7 mph. That lack of heat was apparently by design, as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters after the game that he instructed Clemens to throw as slowly as possible, per MLB.com.

Clemens quickly ran into trouble, allowing a leadoff double to José Abreu and RBI single to Yoán Moncada. He eventually loaded the bases, but got out of it with an A.J. Pollock groundout.

Clemens finished with a line of three hits allowed, one walk, no strikeouts and one earned run, good for a career ERA of 9.00. That's 5.88 earned runs per nine innings more than Roger.

Kody, ranked as the Tigers' No. 17 prospect by MLB Pipeline, made his MLB debut on May 31 and has so far struggled. In 28 plate appearances, the 2018 third-round pick has hit .077/.143/.077 with seven strikeouts while splitting time between left field, second base, first base and third base.

And now, pitcher.

Detroit Tigers' Kody Clemens pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Kody Clemens didn't quite have his dad's pitching mechanics. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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