Twins waste strong Taj Bradley outing in 4-2 loss to Rangers

Bobby Nightengale, Star Tribune on Sep 24, 2025

Published in Baseball

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Taj Bradley will enter the offseason on a high note, delivering his best outing in a Twins uniform in his last start of the regular season. The Twins bullpen, well, not so much.

Bradley yielded two hits and one run in six innings against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, striking out nine, but the Rangers scored three runs against two relievers in the seventh inning to hand the Twins a 4-2 loss at Globe Life Field.

The Twins, who have 90 losses this season, had their winning streak snapped at two games and they haven’t won three games in a row since Aug. 5-8. Texas scored two runs in the seventh inning on wild pitches.

Byron Buxton hit a homer on the game’s second pitch from Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, and the Twins had only one more runner in scoring position until the eighth inning.

Bradley, acquired from Tampa Bay in a trade for reliever Griffin Jax, showed why the Twins valued him. He racked up five strikeouts through the first two innings, featuring a fastball that averaged 96 mph and a curveball that hitters seemingly couldn’t put into play.

He surrendered a leadoff homer in the fourth inning, but he was otherwise efficient at overpowering batters. He stranded a runner at third base in the third inning, pitching around a two-out double, and he finished his final 2025 outing by striking out three of the four batters he faced in the fifth inning.

Bradley, 24, had a 0-2 record and a 6.62 ERA in six starts with the Twins this season. He showed glimpses of dominance in Tampa, and it was on display for a couple of starts after he was traded.

The Rangers pulled ahead in the seventh inning against reliever Travis Adams. Ezequiel Duran hit a one-out single and stole second base before Billy McKinney a go-ahead RBI single to left field on a change-up that was off the plate. After a single moved McKinney to third, he scored when Adams threw a wild pitch during an at-bat when Michael Helman, who played nine games for the Twins last year, tried to drop a sacrifice bunt on the first pitch.

Génesis Cabrera replaced Adams, and he threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded for an additional run. Cabrera owns an 8.31 ERA in 14 appearances with the Twins, and he’s walked 11 batters in 13 innings.

Buxton clubbed a 447-foot homer to straightaway center on deGrom’s second pitch, the second sweeper he saw on the outside corner of the plate. Buxton has nine leadoff homers this season, the second most in Twins history behind Jacque Jones’ 11 leadoff homers in 2002.

It was the fifth leadoff homer deGrom surrendered this season. Good thing for the Twins, too, because the two-time Cy Young award winner was nearly untouchable afterward.

Completing five innings, deGrom struck out eight batters while giving up two hits and one walk. Kody Clemens drew the base on balls in the fourth inning, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With a runner on third and none out, deGrom struck out the next two batters before escaping with a flyout.

After deGrom stranded a runner at third, Smith opened the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer to right field after starting his at-bat in a 3-0 count.

The Twins, trailing by three runs in the eighth inning, greeted Rangers reliever Shawn Armstrong with back-to-back hits. Edouard Julien hit a leadoff double into the right-center gap, his second hit of the game, and Royce Lewis followed with an RBI single to center.

Armstrong retired the next three batters, including striking out Buxton for the final out of the inning.