Taj Bradley and Tarik Skubal traded scoreless innings tonight, until the Twins broke through in the 5th. After a pair of 1-out walks by Byron Buxton and Austin Martin, Luke Keaschall singled up the middle for the first run. Then, Ryan Jeffers doubled down the right field line, scoring 2 more runs. Two batters later, Josh Bell doubled to left for the 4th run of the inning, knocking the Tigers ace out of the game.
Taj Bradley kept the Tigers off the scoreboard through 6 innings, working his way out of a bases loaded jam in the 2nd, and stranding baserunners in various others, picking up 9 strikeouts. In the 7th, with the pitch count approaching 100, Derek Shelton left him in the game. After Spencer Torkelson and Parker Meadows singled, Taj picked up strikeout number 10 against Jávier Baez. Taylor Rogers entered in relief, getting Jahmai Jones to fly out before Kevin McGonigle singled to score Torkelson. He ended the inning by striking out Gleyber Torres looking.
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In the top of the 8th, Rogers got Riley Greene to strike out before giving way to Cole Sands. After a line out, Sands gave up two walks. Eric Orze entered, and got Kerry Carpenter, the tying run, to strikeout to end the threat.
The Twins made some more noise with the bats in the 8th, but left the bases loaded, taking their 3 run lead to the 9th. Orze gave up a double to Baez and a double to McGonigle to make it a 4-2 game, with Justin Topa coming in for the save. He got Torres to ground out, and, after a Greene walk, Dillon Dingler grounded out to end the game.
Studs:
Taj Bradley: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 10 K
Josh Bell: 3-4, 2B, RBI
Ryan Jeffers: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
Duds:
NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!