The Twins’ postseason path is narrowing by the day, but Friday night still gave them a reminder of why the organization can feel better about what comes next. Taj Bradley, one of the young arms brought in during the 2025 deadline selloff, turned in another milestone outing even as Minnesota fell 5-2 to Cleveland.
Bradley, 25, spun six one-hit, scoreless innings and exited with a 1-0 lead after striking out six and working around four walks. It was the kind of start that showed both ends of his game: the premium stuff and the ability to escape trouble when the zone wasn’t fully cooperating.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” Bradley said after the outing.
The numbers keep stacking up for him in his first full season with the Twins. His 29 starts are a career high, along with his 190 strikeouts and 165⅓ innings pitched.
His 3.81 earned-run average is also a career best. He has gone at least five innings in 26 of those 29 starts, and he’s reached the sixth inning or beyond 15 times.
Bradley also logged the 600th strikeout of his career Friday.
“I just want to go as long as I can every outing,” he said afterward. “Career highs are special, career-high innings, strikeouts, stuff like that. But just seeing the durability and stuff like that, that’s what I pride myself in.”
Against the Guardians, he handed the leadoff hitter a free pass four times, including three walks and two four-pitch walks. None of them came around to score. Bradley mixed a fastball that was averaging around 98 mph with a splitter and cutter in the 90 mph range and a curveball in the low-80s, and Cleveland never quite settled in.
“Definite sign of maturity,” manager Derek Shelton said.
Bradley described the outing as “like a hard fight.”
Still, the walks remain the lingering question. With the kind of arsenal he has, why is he giving away so many baserunners?
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out right now,” he said, “if it’s an intensity thing, or a mental thing or something like that. But we’ll just try to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. So, that would be a conversation for tomorrow, me and Pete Maki - find it this late in the season, and hone it, then come in next season, no flaws.”
A.J. Minter, a 12-year veteran brought in at the deadline to help the bullpen in the stretch run, came away impressed.
“I mean, this dude has unbelievable stuff,” he said. “For him, he’s still young, and hopefully (has) a great career ahead of him.
For him, (it’s) just keep attacking the zone. Don’t be afraid to throw it over the plate.
It was awesome to see what he did today.”
Minnesota’s lead didn’t last. Minter gave up a two-run homer to Angel Martinez in the seventh, and after the Twins tied it in their half of the inning on Kaelen Culpepper’s RBI single, Yoendrys Gomez unraveled in the ninth. He allowed three runs on a wild pitch and a two-run double and was charged with the loss.
The defeat left the Twins 5½ games back of Cleveland for the final American League wild card spot, tied with Seattle and with only 15 regular-season games remaining. Toronto, Baltimore and Texas are also ahead of them.
“It’s just the ebb and flow of baseball,” Bradley said. “That’s what the guys with 10 years (experience) tell us.
There’s ebb and flow, and we’ll just have to ride it and accept and come back (Saturday) and compete. It’s not tough; you go home, sleep on it and come back better.”
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