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