Taj Bradley outduels Tarik Skubal as Twins edge Tigers, 4-2

Bobby Nightengale, Star Tribune on Apr 7, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — In a game that featured reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, it was Taj Bradley who stole the show.

Bradley, on this 44-degree evening at Target Field, outdueled the best pitcher in baseball. He was in complete control, yielding one run in 6 1/3 innings to lift the Twins to a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

When Bradley walked off the mound for the final time in the seventh, after he struck out his 10th batter, he received a standing ovation from the announced home crowd of 12,341. Bradley tapped his heart as he approached the dugout.

The Twins scored four runs off Skubal in the fifth inning, matching the most earned runs he has given up in his last 24 starts.

Bradley, a 25-year-old right-hander, left the bases loaded in the second inning. Zach McKinstry hit a one-out double, then advanced only one base when Spencer Torkelson followed with a ground-ball single because McKinstry initially retreated toward second as the ball rolled through the middle of the infield.

Parker Meadows, the next batter, struck out in an eight-pitch at-bat when he whiffed on a splitter. Bradley hit Javier Báez with a first-pitch fastball before inducing an inning-ending groundout against Tigers leadoff hitter Colt Keith.

Bradley, who hit two batters but didn’t issue any walks, retired 12 of his next 13 batters after he plunked Báez to load the bases in the second inning.

It was Bradley’s seventh career start with at least 10 strikeouts, and his first since the Twins acquired him from Tampa Bay last July in a trade for Griffin Jax. His splitter was responsible for six of his strikeouts, a pitch that made him such a promising starter, and a pitch that was maddeningly inconsistent.

The Rays demoted Bradley to Class AAA before last year’s trade deadline after he lost the feel for his splitter. He reworked the grip during the winter, and it’s a devastating pitch mix when he’s commanding it alongside his upper-90s fastball.

Through three starts this season, Bradley has posted a 1.08 ERA with 22 strikeouts and four walks in 16 2/3 innings.

Facing Skubal, who had surrendered one earned run in 13 innings this year, the Twins started their four-run fifth-inning rally with Brooks Lee painfully attempting to bunt for a hit. When Lee put the ball in play, his bat recoiled and struck him in the face. An ouch and an out.

Skubal walked the next two batters before Luke Keaschall lined an RBI single to center field. Ryan Jeffers followed with a bases-clearing, two-run double down the right-field line, connecting on an outside slider in a 1-2 count, and Keaschall slid ahead of a throw to the plate. Keaschall stood up, clapped his hands and shouted toward his teammates.

Two batters later, Josh Bell knocked Skubal out of the game before he could complete the fifth inning with an RBI double to left field.

After all the issues the Twins had against lefty pitchers in the first 10 games of the season, they had success against the best lefthanded pitcher in baseball. Skubal gave up eight hits, matching the most he has allowed in a start since the end of the 2024 season.

The Twins had plenty of chances to score early against Skubal. In the second inning, Victor Caratini and Bell produced back-to-back hits with one out. Skubal pitched out of it with a strikeout and a flyout.

After Lee and Byron Buxton opened the bottom of the third inning with a pair of singles, Austin Martin showed he planned to bunt for the first two pitches of his at-bat. In a 2-1 count, he was given the green light to swing, and he grounded into a double play.

Detroit opened the seventh inning with two singles and a strikeout against Bradley, who matched his career high with 104 pitches. Rookie Kevin McGonigle hit a two-out RBI single off Twins lefty Taylor Rogers.

Twins reliever Eric Orze stranded two relievers in the eighth inning, striking out pinch hitter Kerry Carpenter after Cole Sands walked two batters.

McGonigle hit a one-out RBI double off Orze in the ninth inning before Justin Topa secured the save. The Tigers have scored two or fewer runs in eight of Skubal’s last 12 losses.