Taj Bradley, balanced offense leads Twins past Nationals

[ASFN Admin]

Final​

Twins 11, Nationals 3

Starting pitcher performance​

Taj Bradley (4-1) turned in another fantastic performance on Tuesday, this one a six-inning outing in which he limited the Nationals to two runs on four hits in six innings pitched.

Bradley gave up a run in his first inning of work and allowed a pair of baserunners to begin the second but then locked in, retiring the next 10 batters in order. The starter struck out eight in his outing, including five on his curveball.

Player of the Game​

It was a nice day for the offense with contributions up and down the lineup — every batter had a hit except for Royce Lewis, who drove in a run and scored one, and Kody Clemens, who walked twice and scored three times. But it was Bradley who set the tone for the Twins, throwing his fifth quality start in eight outings this season.

Key moment​

The Twins took the lead in the second inning with a Brooks Lee double, which brought home a pair of runs, but they really broke open the game two innings later.

Austin Martin’s single was the beginning of a four-run inning in which the Twins sent all nine batters to the plate. Clemens and Luke Keaschall both walked as the Twins loaded the bases with no outs.

From there, Martin scored on a fielder’s choice in which starter Cade Cavalli made an error and everyone was safe, Lewis brought home a run with a sacrifice fly and Trevor Larnach doubled in two more.

The Twins continued to tack on runs later in the game, including in the eighth when Byron Buxton hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season, a three-run shot.

Up next​

Bailey Ober (3-1, 3.55 ERA) will take the ball for the second game of the series, which will start at 5:45 p.m. CT. He will face Miles Mikolas (0-3, 8.23).

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