Taj Bradley Makes Twins History With a Feat That Took 65 Years

[Cody Christie]

Johan Santana. Bert Blyleven. Brad Radke. Jim Kaat. The Minnesota Twins have had legendary pitchers throughout their history. From dominant strikeout artists to workhorse starters, the franchise has produced plenty of memorable performances on the mound.

Yet somehow, there were still a few boxes left unchecked. Taj Bradley checked one of them Tuesday night. In the Twins' 4-2 loss to the Athletics, Bradley became the first pitcher in franchise history to throw an immaculate inning. It was an odd distinction to achieve in a losing effort, but it was also a moment that deserves to be remembered long after the final score is forgotten.

An immaculate inning requires a pitcher to strike out three consecutive hitters on nine pitches, with every pitch resulting in a strike. Bradley did exactly that in the bottom of the fifth inning. And he did it in style.

Facing the bottom of Oakland's lineup, Bradley opened the inning against Carlos Cortes. After getting ahead 0-2 on a pair of fastballs, he dropped a 92.3 mph splitter below the zone. Cortes chased, giving Bradley his seventh strikeout of the night.

Brian Serven was next. Bradley quickly got ahead 0-2 with two swinging strikes on a cutter and a 98 mph fastball. Ahead in the count, Bradley got Serven to chase a curveball in the dirt. Six pitches into the inning, Bradley had two strikeouts and was one pitch away from making Twins history.

Henry Bolte stepped into the box. That's when catcher Victor Caratini recognized what was happening. There was no reason to get cute.

“On the last pitch, that's why I called a fastball, because I was like, '[Expletive] it, best pitch,'” Caratini said. “He threw, like, 100 [mph] and the batter was frozen. That's pretty nice.”

Pretty nice might be underselling it. Bradley painted a 99.8 mph four-seam fastball at the very bottom of the strike zone. Bolte didn't swing. The umpire called strike three.

Nine pitches. Nine strikes. Three strikeouts. Immaculate.

For a franchise that has existed in Minnesota since 1961, it is remarkable that nobody had done it before. Santana never did it. Blyleven never did it. Radke never did it. Kaat never did it. Bradley did.

And considering how rare an immaculate inning is, it is fitting that the sequence showcased one of the biggest strengths of Bradley's game: his ability to overpower hitters with a deep arsenal.

The final pitch was particularly impressive. After using a splitter and curveball to get the first two strikeouts, Bradley went perfectly located a 100 mph fastball while locating it at the bottom of the zone. That combination left Bolte frozen. It also put Bradley's name in the franchise record book.

A Historic Moment in an Otherwise Frustrating Night

The immaculate inning wasn't the only impressive part of Bradley's performance. He finished the night with 11 strikeouts, matching his career high. The seventh, eighth and ninth strikeouts came as part of the immaculate inning, but Bradley had been generating swings and misses throughout the evening.

Entering Tuesday, the 25-year-old had already established himself as one of Minnesota's most dependable starters. For the season, he has a 3.97 ERA, 169 strikeouts in 147 1/3 innings and a 3.3 WAR, leading the Twins' rotation in that category.

His overall line against Oakland wasn't nearly as clean as the fifth inning. That's what made the loss so frustrating. Bradley was dominant for most of the evening, but two brief stretches ultimately decided the game. In the second inning, he surrendered a two-out double followed by a home run. Then, in the sixth, another two-out rally produced two more runs.

Four runs allowed. A historic inning in between. And a 4-2 loss. Baseball can be cruel that way. Still, the result shouldn't overshadow what Bradley accomplished.

The Twins have been playing baseball in Minnesota for more than six decades. Generations of pitchers have taken the mound wearing a Twins uniform. Some became franchise icons. Others put together seasons worthy of the Hall of Fame.

None of them had thrown an immaculate inning. Until Tuesday. That makes Bradley's accomplishment more than just another impressive stretch in an otherwise strong season. It gives him a permanent place in Twins history.

Nine pitches. Three strikeouts. One immaculate inning. And, for the first time in Twins history, Bradley’s name is attached to it.

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What stood out about Bradley’s immaculate inning? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

 

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[PuckettPond]

This is the result of trading a disgruntle Relief pitcher for a young controllable big arm starting pitcher. Make that trade every day. Every start we have a chance to watch baseball history. Rojas is on the same path. Who did we miss out on this year's trade deadline?

[NYCTK]

Immaculate inning is really cool, but one of those accomplishments I can't pretend to care about. Even watching the game (without commentary) I didn't even realize it happened until the next morning. 

Heck, you can throw an immaculate inning without ever touching the strike zone. 

[ashbury]

2 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Heck, you can throw an immaculate inning without ever touching the strike zone. 

Unless facing an opposing lineup that is banged-up or otherwise compromised, that would be called "filthy stuff."

[Saxophone Joe]

8 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

 Even watching the game (without commentary) I didn't even realize it happened until the next morning. 

Dan Hayes said that he was writing a tweet from the press box during the inning and didn't catch on right away what had happened. 

Also, for what it's worth, Dan also said it's not 100% confirmed (though still highly likely) that it was the first immaculate inning in the Twins history. MLB is saying it is though, so safe to say "history" was made. 

[NYCTK]

3 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Unless facing an opposing lineup that is banged-up or otherwise compromised, that would be called "filthy stuff."

Sure, but even though it is "skill" based, it's not at all indicative of a good pitcher. There were 4 immaculate innings last season, and 3 of them were by players none of us would have really wanted on the Twins. 2 were thrown by pitchers with negative 0.7 bWAR...each! 

And the three this season were all by good, not great, starting pitchers. 

So, it's cool, and worthy of recognizing, but not something anyone cared about 10 years ago. 

[Matthew Trueblood]

10 minutes ago, Saxophone Joe said:

Dan Hayes said that he was writing a tweet from the press box during the inning and didn't catch on right away what had happened. 

Also, for what it's worth, Dan also said it's not 100% confirmed (though still highly likely) that it was the first immaculate inning in the Twins history. MLB is saying it is though, so safe to say "history" was made. 

I would argue it's *not* safe to say that, which is why we have some caveats in this piece. The league doesn't know any better than Dan does. "in history" means, for feats/stats that center on knowing the outcome of each pitch, since 1988; there's no complete data set anywhere of all pitch outcomes before that. I do wish that were made clearer, including by Cory last night. We tried to elucidate it here.

[Cris E]

It could have happened a bunch, but back in the day there was less focus on strikeouts and even less on pitch counts and exactly zero pitch-by-pitch recording of data. How many pitches did Chief Bender throw in the fourth inning on August 15 1932?  OK, how about a year he actually pitched?

The earliest pitch counts on Baseball Reference were 1988. It's actually very unlikely this was the first time it happened since the Senators and Mathewson were out there. 

EDIT: ninja'd by an author.

[Saxophone Joe]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

I would argue it's *not* safe to say that, which is why we have some caveats in this piece. The league doesn't know any better than Dan does. "in history" means, for feats/stats that center on knowing the outcome of each pitch, since 1988; there's no complete data set anywhere of all pitch outcomes before that. I do wish that were made clearer, including by Cory last night. We tried to elucidate it here.

All good points!

[PuckettPond]

Even with a loss to a very bad team he makes watching the game enjoyable. He has the look of a #1 pitcher. He could be our next Cy Young winner.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Sure, 

I'm glad we're in agreement, then.

[weitz41]

Well...Better that accomplishment, then most strike outs by a team. Errors or runners stranded.