Rangers 4, Twins 2: Taj Bradley Sparkles, But Twins Can't Put Winning Effort Around Him

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Taj Bradley 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K (90 pitches, 60 strikes (66%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (32)
Bottom 3 WPA: Travis Adams (-.301), Ryan Jeffers (-.208), Ryan Fitzgerald (-.117)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Leading off Wednesday night's tussle with the Rangers, Byron Buxton did his best to set the tone. On just the second pitch he saw from Jacob deGrom, Buxton launched a solo shot to dead center, 407 feet, to put the Twins on the board. Kody Clemens did, indeed, seem to take his cue from Buxton, because he hit a fly ball exactly the same distance. Unfortunately, that one died in the glove of Texas center fielder Michael Helman—and that would prove to better reflect the tone of the game.

Taj Bradley toed the rubber for the Twins. Making his 27th and final start of the season, Bradley worked a clean first frame, including two strikeouts. He had good heat, touching 98, but the curveball played especially well, earning both punchouts and a key called strike to open a count.

Not in the lineup tonight was rookie Luke Keaschall. After sliding into second base Tuesday, he injured his thumb. Audra Martin reported during the broadcast that Keaschall’s season is over. He’ll be seeing a specialist, and surgery is very much on the table. Before that tough break, the rookie was slashing .302/.382/.445 with 55 hits, 28 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, and four home runs. It was a thrilling introduction to the majors, but already, it's clear that injuries will be a major part of the story for yet another top Twins prospect.

Bradley struck out the side in the second inning, and again, the curveball looked incredible. He allowed his first hit with two outs in the third, when Helman blooped a double to left, but he was out of trouble almost as soon as he'd gotten into it. He was very, very sharp.

Clemens tried to stir up trouble in the fourth, drawing a walk against deGrom before swiping second—his fifth steal of the year. and the Twins' 45th in the last 25 games. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. With no outs, deGrom looked like he might be losing his edge. Instead, the two-time Cy Young winner locked things down, striking out Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers back-to-back before getting Brooks Lee to fly out. Clemens was stranded.

Bradley’s lone mistake came in the fourth, when Texas shortstop Josh Smith took him deep to right. Larnach got back to the wall with time to give it a look, but the ball just cleared the wall to tie things up 1-1. Bradley showed resilience, though. He walked Rowdy Tellez, but stranded him with a strikeout and an easy pop fly. He ended up going six innings and fanning nine, including striking out the side again in the sixth. It was easily his most impressive outing since the Twins traded for him on July 31, and it flashed the front-of-the-rotation upside teams have long seen in him.

Unfortunately, the rest of the team offered little support. The offense didn't mount many rallies through the middle of the game. Travis Adams came on to relieve Bradley in the seventh, and quickly, he found himself in big trouble. A single, a steal and another single gave Texas the lead with just one out. Yet another single put runners on the corners.

Adams was struggling to control the zone, too. He threw a wild pitch that Jeffers failed to block, and Billy McKinney scored, making it 3-1. Adams was pulled from the game and replaced by Génesis Cabrera to face leadoff hitter Joc Pederson, a lefty-lefty matchup. But the Rangers switched it up, and brought out Adolis García off the bench to pinch-hit. Rocco Baldelli elected to intentionally walk García, to get to the left-handed Smith.

Unfortunately, Cabrera then unintentionally walked Smith, loading the bases. With Josh Jung batting, Cabrera then loosed the team's second wild pitch of the frame, scoring the Rangers' third run. He eventually induced a flyout from Jung, but the damage was done.

The Rangers brought out reliever Shawn Armstrong, who instantly got into some real trouble. An Edouard Julien double and a Royce Lewis single cut the deficit to 4-2 and brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out—but Armstrong then set the Twins down in order to escape the jam.

Twins reliever Cody Laweryson spun a scoreless bottom of the eighth, giving the Twins a chance to come back in the top of the ninth, but the Rangers' defense stifled them. The game ended with the Twins' 90th loss of the season. 

The Twins only have four games left before the offseason. The restructuring of the bullpen and figuring out how to improve the bats is going to be paramount to the success of the team moving forward. 

What’s Next?
The Twins have their last game of the series against the Rangers Thursday, before heading to Philadelphia to close out their season. They will get to see old friends, and hopefully end the season on a good note. Bailey Ober (5-9; 5.32 ERA) will be back on the mound against another old friend, Tyler Mahle (6-3; 2.20 ERA), at 1:35 PM CT.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[old nurse]

I do not think  Adam’s and Cabrera will be on the major league club next year 

[Doctor Wu]

Very impressive and encouraging start by Taj Bradley. Too bad that it's the last of the season for him, but this should give him confidence and something to build on for next year. I still think that he will be an important part of the rotation for the Twins in 2026. Hopefully, we get see Abel pitch once more this week too and see if his control has improved.

[Doctor Gast]

It was strange to see Michael Helman in CF, he's been a bright spot for TX. Bradley was the only hopeful that can help us next season, out of the sell-off. And he was a last-minute, unexpected acquisition.

[Doctor Wu]

1 minute ago, Doctor Gast said:

It was strange to see Michael Helman in CF,

That was strange, but cool that he's gotten another chance to start some games in the majors. 

[jmlease1]

46 minutes ago, old nurse said:

I do not think  Adam’s and Cabrera will be on the major league club next year 

I hope to never see Cabrera again, but Adams still has some possibilities as a reliever. This was the first meltdown in a while for him and he didn't get any help from his bullpen-mate. Laweryson keeps doing the job, which is nice to see. It's only been 7 innings in dog days of a dead season, but maybe he's found something. I'd certainly prefer to see more from him that the waiver-wire retreads.

Bradley did well. This is the guy you signed up for when you traded for him, and he's probably got the inside track for a rotation spot for next season. Since I expect the Cheap Pohlads to force a trade on Lopez and/or Ryan, we'll need him to pitch like this.

deGrom is still really good when healthy. 

[mikelink45]

We cannot restructure the BP in four games - Cabrera, Adams, Hatch, Tonkin are not part of a successful BP no matter what the structure is.  So far we have Ohl for middle innings, Sands and  Lawyerson for the seventh and eighth and Funderburk for the ninth (based on what we have right now).  Some big changes are needed. 

Nice to see Helman get a chance to play.  244 - 5 Hrs - 19 RBIs.  I would happily trade Outman for him!  How are the other players we traded or DFA'd doing this year?  Varland has poor stats with Toronto, but his last five games he has only given up one run.  Griffen Jax last five games look really good with no runs allowed.  Duran could end up in the WS and has a 2.29 era for Philadelphia.  He is their closer, but his last five games are not as good as Varland and Jax.  Coulombe has a bad era because he had one bad clunker of a game in the last five.  Correa has 286/348/427/775 for Houston which is better than he had with us. And Ty France has a 277/320/372/693 line with Toronto which is slightly better than he had with us.

Let's hope Keaschall can get back to the excitement we saw this year.  Lewis was exciting too until he had multiple injuries so it is wait and see.  

 

[DJL44]

I was enjoying the pitchers duel last night. When I saw Cabrera and Ohl warming up in the bullpen I decided to read a book instead of finishing the game.

[Jeff K]

While I won't/can't be confused as a Falvey supporter, I liked the Taj Bradley trade when it was made.  Jax had a poor season and who is to say he will get it back together.  Bradley has true up side as either a starter or potentially as a dominant reliever.

[terrydactyls]

 

[terrydactyls]

Down to three teams - and one is close to elimination.

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB		REM
1	Minnesota Twins	68	90	0.430	0.0		4
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	69	89	0.437	1.0		4
3	Los Angeles Angels	71	87	0.449	3.0		4

[Otaknam]

Finally an excellent start for one of the newly acquired starters. Hopefully he can build on that. Now if they can get a similar start from Abel that would help. One of these guys needs to be at least a number three starter, not just another 4-5 inning number 5 starter like SWR.

[TwinsDr2021]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

but Adams still has some possibilities as a reliever. This was the first meltdown in a while for him and he didn't get any help from his bullpen-mate. 

 

If you mean by time, correct it has been since 9/1, he did have 5 outings (6.2 innings) of no runs between last night and that night. But prior to that he had given up 20 earned runs in 24.33 innings. At this point Adams seems like a injury replacement bullpen arm or last guy out of the pen type reliever. 

Best of luck Travis

[jmlease1]

18 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

If you mean by time, correct it has been since 9/1, he did have 5 outings (6.2 innings) of no runs between last night and that night. But prior to that he had given up 20 earned runs in 24.33 innings. At this point Adams seems like a injury replacement bullpen arm or last guy out of the pen type reliever. 

Best of luck Travis

Sure, but some of that was when he was still working as a starter/bulk innings guy. Since he's moved into more of a 1-2 inning role, there's been signs of improvement. He might not make the opening day bullpen, but he should be an option for middle relief for next season. At least there's some potential upside there as he adjusts to a new role.

[TwinsDr2021]

18 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Sure, but some of that was when he was still working as a starter/bulk innings guy. Since he's moved into more of a 1-2 inning role, there's been signs of improvement. He might not make the opening day bullpen, but he should be an option for middle relief for next season. At least there's some potential upside there as he adjusts to a new role.

Banking on September numbers for the next year, has worked out pretty well, no?

[bunsen82]

Keaschall with a possible surgery of a thumb is not a good outcome for playing out the end of the season.  Hopefully just a sprain and inflamation goes down and fine for next year.  

Taj Bradley still has some very good stuff.  The issue has been the crooked innings, and they have come either early in games or towards the end of his outing.  Going back to the splitter and regaining that feeling seems to be a good strategy for him.   I truly think it confidence and I do think the Rays went away what had made Bradley successful coming up.   No different than what we did to Austin Martin.  I understand always wanting to tinker and making someone better,  but Martin was never going to be a home run hitter,  and Bradley has had success by getting strikeouts and creating weak contact.  The version the Rays created this year had less strikeouts and harder contact.  

Mick Abel had an ok outing last time around.  I hope he can end on a high note. 

Draft implications.  The Twins have the 4th worst record currently with the Pirates winning 2 in a row.  That will result in the 2nd best odds in the draft behind the White Sox if the standings hold with 4 games remaining.  

[jmlease1]

15 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Banking on September numbers for the next year, has worked out pretty well, no?

Fair, but he has pitched in competitive games and against teams still trying/needing to win. It's a little different than previous years when the roster expansions were so much bigger as well.

Again, I'm not saying Adams is a lock or that he's going to be a great reliever. But he's shown enough to be a realistic consideration, someone that could contribute in 2026 and has upside, which is not something the waiver wire dudes bring to the table.

[Blyleven2011]

What goes around comes around  ...

Twins eliminated texas the previous game with a loss , Texas last night  beats twins with a win and twins lose 90th game of the season with 4 to go ...

Was a good pitched game for both starters as the game stayed close until the bullpen allowed the winning runs to Texas  ...

Cabrera has not looked sharp in any of his outings ...

[Ricky Vaughn]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I was enjoying the pitchers duel last night. When I saw Cabrera and Ohl warming up in the bullpen I decided to read a book instead of finishing the game.

I had the book in my hand and then decided to keep watching. Poor choice on my part.

[DJL44]

10 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Cabrera has not looked sharp in any of his outings ...

The most remarkable thing about Genesis Cabrera's career is he has somehow accumulated enough service time to qualify for free agency.

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The most remarkable thing about Genesis Cabrera's career is he has somehow accumulated enough service time to qualify for free agency.

Send him on his merry way  ....

[Coach Wheels]

7 hours ago, old nurse said:

I do not think  Adam’s and Cabrera will be on the major league club next year 

Is there 1 pitcher in the bullpen today that you'd expect to be on the roster Opening Day of 2026?

I can't see one worth keeping. Sands has been awful the last 6 weeks.

[DJL44]

Royce Lewis seems to have developed an allergy to walks. Just 1 walk vs 21 strikeouts in September.

[JADBP]

I just figured out what is going on with the Twins!  I now understand the peculiar decisions made by the Pohlads and Falvey.  It was right in front of me all the time! Sorry I missed it, but now we can all relax and make sense of the direction that the Twins are going.  I am looking forward to it!

It is now obvious that the Minnesota Twins are aiming to become a BananaBall franchise!  YAYYY!!  This will be so much fun!  I can't wait to see the team in yellow plaid skirts and love the idea of fans who catch a foul ball will record an out.  This is gonna be great!  Coming early next spring (or maybe they are already there??).  www.bananaball.com  Now, the Twins might have to change their name but you tell me....is the name "MinnesotaTwins" good enough for Bananaball or do we need a new name?  Any ideas?

[old nurse]

4 hours ago, Coach Wheels said:

Is there 1 pitcher in the bullpen today that you'd expect to be on the roster Opening Day of 2026?

I can't see one worth keeping. Sands has been awful the last 6 weeks.

Sands, Funderburk, Laweryson,  Ohl will get a shot as there is really not much more for him to learn in the minors. They will probably pick up Topa’s option. That is not to say they will all do well, the question was what do I expect them to do. They will still need 3 setup guys and a closer.