Brewers 4, Twins 3: Taj Bradley and the Twins Lead Early, Lose Late

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Taj Bradley 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (97 pitches, 62 strikes (64%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Jeff Hoffman (-0.23), Brooks Lee (-0.15), Trevor Larnach (-0.12)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

Kaelen Culpepper's debut on Friday night sparked the offense out of its duldrums and led to a surprise victory in the lair of the MLB-leading Brewers. Against a lefty no less! Saturday night's game involved facing another lefty starter in Robert Gasser (3-4, 4.48 ERA), while the Twins countered with their young ace, Taj Bradley (9-4, 3.69 ERA). With the Miz lying in wait for Sunday's matinee, Saturday night looked to be the clearest path to a series victory for Minnesota. Could Culpepper's lightning still be in that bottle for game two?

Give and Take
The Twins got runners onto the corners with two outs to start the game, but Kody Clemens, who was 3-for-25 since his ultimate slam on July 30th, made it 3-for-26 with a fielder's choice ground out to end the inning. Bradley got ahead of leadoff man Brice Turang 0-2 but surrendered a double to start the bottom of the first. Then a walk and a single loaded the bases with nobody out for William Contreras. Contreras took one for the team, and the Brewers took a 1-0 lead. With the bases still loaded, things looked bleak for Bradley, but Garrett Mitchell lined out, Andrew Vaughn struck out, and the immortal Christian Yelich bounced out to Culpepper to escape a dire situation. 

Luke Keaschall decided to follow the Brewer blueprint to start the second, as he laced a leadoff double. Culpepper wore one, and suddenly the Twins once again had a threat going. Brooks Lee laced a ball to left that Jackson Chourio robbed, and Ryan Kreidler popped out to the infield, and it looked like the Twins were once again going to let a golden opportunity slip. Then Gasser's unusual wildness came to bite the Brewers, as Austin Martin got plunked to load the bases. Ryan Jeffers worked the count full and drew a game-tying walk. This set up the red-hot Royce Lewis for his latest hero moment, and he delivered with a two-run double to make it 3-1.

Give Again
Bradley cruised through the second and third innings, striking out five in a row at one point. The Twins found baserunners in the third and fourth innings again, but in the third inning Keaschall got greedy in an attempt to steal third, and Martin grounded into a double play in the fourth. It felt like a two-run lead was going to be plenty for Bradley, but all of that unraveled in the bottom of the fourth. After 28 pitches in the inning, Bradley found the bases loaded with two outs, and Turang took the 29th pitch into the right field gap to plate two Brewers for a 3-3 tie. 

Bully Pens
The tie game stayed that way thanks to bending-but-not-breaking bullpen members. The Twins had a depleted list of available arms, but Travis Adams and Kody Funderburk struck out three Brewers each in the sixth and seventh innings respectively. Unfortunately, the Brewers have one of the best pens in baseball, and they kept the Twins from threatening through the sixth, seventh, and eighth.

New Twin righty reliever Jeff Hoffman came in to take care of things in the bottom of the eighth, and Contreras blooped one to shallow center. Keaschall elected not to dive, and the ball landed for a single. Brewer baseball took over with a pinch runner, a stolen base, and an opposite field single by Vaughn to retake the lead at 4-3. The only thing crushed the whole inning was the collective heart of Twins Territory, as the missed opportunities of the early innings loomed large as we headed to the ninth.

Comeback Magic?
If the Twins were going to reach .500 again tonight, it was going to have to come against former Twin Trevor Megill. If anyone got on base, Lewis would get a chance. Trevor Larnach got the first crack, and he lined a loud out to the right field warning track. Alan Roden pinch hit, and weakly popped up in foul territory on the first pitch he saw. Jeffers didn't want to wait either, and he popped up the first pitch he saw to take all potential excitement out of the picture.

It was a game the Twins had in their grasp, but back to two games under the .500 mark they went.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to do what very few have done this season on Sunday afternoon, and that's beat Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski (11-5, 1.63 ERA). Minnesota will send out their young lefty Connor Prielipp (3-5, 4.75 ERA) in hopes of stealing a series victory in this iteration of the Border Battle.

First pitch in Milwaukee is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Funderburk	14	0	20	0	21	55
Hoffman	0	11	0	25	15	51
Adams	20	0	0	0	15	35
Nance	0	7	0	24	0	31
Gomez	0	0	18	12	0	30
Morris	0	0	13	13	0	26
Minter	0	12	0	3	0	15
Rogers	14	0	0	0	0	14

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[Saxophone Joe]

I would love to know which of these close losses lately have led to Shelton losing his sh*t in the clubhouse. I can tell he has it in him.

Between the walks and bad throws, questionable non-send by the third base coach, bad base running, some undisciplined at-bats and not diving at catchable balls with the game on the line, etc., - plus some plain bad luck - this one tonight might’ve broken the skipper. 

[wesnewy]

brew crew tough team to beat and we got the miz tomorrow so 🤷‍♂️

[Hunter4848]

Low IQ baseball team

[ashbury]

Twins are close to being able to win games like this but the defense still proves to be a handicap.

[Steven Trefz]

6 minutes ago, Saxophone Joe said:

I would love to know which of these close losses lately have led to Shelton losing his sh*t in the clubhouse. I can tell he has it in him.

Between the walks and throwing to the wrong base, questionable non-send by the third base coach, bad base running and not diving at catchable balls with the game on the line, etc., this one tonight might’ve broken the skipper. 

"Technical difficulty" and no post-game video from Shelty...would love to have been a fly on that wall.

[thelanges5]

How about take a pitch in the top of the ninth? That was pathetic. No chance with those at bats. Like to see the Twins playing the Brewers tough. Was worried after those KC games. 

[Parfigliano]

40 minutes ago, Saxophone Joe said:

I would love to know which of these close losses lately have led to Shelton losing his sh*t in the clubhouse. I can tell he has it in him.

Between the walks and throwing to the wrong base, questionable non-send by the third base coach, bad base running and not diving at catchable balls with the game on the line, etc., this one tonight might’ve broken the skipper. 

TC is fundamentally unsound.  Seems like dumb mistakes cost them at least 1 game per week.

[tony&rodney]

IIRC, more people picked the Twins to lose 100 games than picked them to win 81 contests. Shelton has done a good job and the team is still showing out in positive ways most every game. I remind myself of this whenever I get too frustrated. Besides there is another game tomorrow.

The Twins came into the 2026 campaign with a record number of DH types on the roster and players who were out of position. No manager can make total wholesale changes based on Spring Training. The staff took the team they were handed and after giving the players a solid opportunity to show their skills there were massive position switches. The results are that Twins fans are now able to watch a competitive club. 

The next series of changes will be to incorporate more skilled defensive players and speed on to the roster. A couple of changes could take place this season but I expect we see a few larger changes over the winter. Tonight's game could have been won with better base running and hitting but it was the defensive deficiencies in the outfield by the Twins juxtaposed with the fine plays by the Brewers that stood out. The skill levels are different and this Twins team is still more fun to watch than what we saw the last several years. The players are busting their butts. I admire their fight and resiliency. 

[Linus]

I’ve been critical of Funderburk forever. He has really pitched well for about a month or a little longer. He throws way more strikes than before. Royce also made a couple of nice plays in the field - he could be a great fielding first baseman. The Twins might be the worst team in the league for cutoff plays and overall outfield plays. They so frequently over throw the cutoff man or throw to the wrong base it’s maddening. I don’t know what to do with Keaschall. I love his hustle and offensive profile but the guy is just lost in the field and his arm is really bad. 

[Saxophone Joe]

I thought Brooks’ warning track AB was gone. Apparently he did too, at first. 

Sane with Larnach in the 9th. Looked like it might get out off the bat. 

 

[stringer bell]

Royce and Fundy are making up for scuffling early this year, for sure. The slumping players need to come out of it.

Tomorrow looks like a mismatch, but you never know in baseball. 

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Royce is on fire! In the last 7 days he is 12 for 20, good for a .600 AVG. He has 2 HRs, a SB and 7 RBIs in that span. He is looking like the Royce we saw in 2023. 13 Game Hitting Streak!!!

[h2oface]

Another pitcher deemed not good enough for our Twins in 2023, and 3 years later is the closer for the team with MLBs best record and took all of 4 pitches to finish the game. Absolutely brutal. 

[knothole61]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Royce and Fundy are making up for scuffling early this year, for sure. The slumping players need to come out of it.

Tomorrow looks like a mismatch, but you never know in baseball. 

Yep, you never know. The Twins are a good fastball hitting team, and Miz throws 4-seamers about 65% of the time. I know that they are not ordinary heaters, but it should be an interesting game.