Four Takeaways as Taj Bradley Outduels Tarik Skubal, Twins Beat Tigers

Taj Bradley continued an excellent start to his season by outdueling back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who allowed four runs in the fifth inning as the Twins beat the Tigers 4-2 on Tuesday night at Target Field. Now 5-6, Minnesota has a chance to clinch its first series victory of the year and get back to .500 on Wednesday.

Here are four Twins takeaways from the victory.

Bradley looks legit

The Twins may have found a gem in Bradley, who they acquired from the Rays for Griffin Jax at last year's trade deadline. The 25-year-old has always had excellent raw stuff, but he struggled to harness it and produce consistent results over his first three seasons in the big leagues.

It's only three starts, so there's a long way to go. But so far, Bradley has been incredible for the Twins in 2026. They're 3-0 when he pitches, and this was his best outing yet. Bradley pitched into the seventh inning and struck out ten Tigers hitters without a single walk. He gave up six hits, two of which came in the seventh inning and led to the lone earned run on his stat line when Taylor Rogers allowed one of the inherited runners to cross the plate.

Using a nasty four-pitch mix, Bradley induced 15 whiffs in this game and kept Tigers hitters off balance all night. His success starts with a fastball that averages 96-97 miles per hour and has touched 100 earlier this year. His best offspeed pitch is a lethal splitter that generated nine whiffs on Tuesday. He also mixes in a curveball and cutter.

Taj Bradley, Filthy 93mph Splitter. ✌️

6th K thru 4 pic.twitter.com/ifBPhPEgjn
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 8, 2026

Three games in, Bradley has a 1.08 ERA in 16.2 innings pitched. He's struck out 22 batters and walked only four (three of which came in his season debut in Baltimore). Bradley will look to stay hot in his next outing this Sunday in Toronto.

The bats are heating up

The Twins' offense was awfully quiet in the final two games of this weekend's series against the Rays, in which they scored a total of two runs on six hits. These first two games against the Tigers have been more like what Minnesota was envisioning getting from its lineup this year.

The Twins got 10 hits, including a big two-run home run from Luke Keaschall, in a 7-3 win on Monday. And one night later, they weren't intimidated by facing arguably the best pitcher in baseball. They generated early traffic against Skubal and finally broke through with a four-run fifth inning. After a pair of walks, Keaschall singled in a run. Ryan Jeffers then delivered the big blow with a two-run double down the right field line, and Josh Bell followed that up with a bloop double to drive in Jeffers.

For the second straight night, the Twins finished with 10 hits. Keaschall is heating up. So is Buxton, who hit two balls with exit velocities over 107 miles per hour. Newcomers Bell and Caratini combined for five hits in this one. On paper, this looks like a Twins lineup that has a chance to be pretty solid — and potentially even better when some of their top prospects eventually join the mix.

The bullpen has been...good?

Coming into this season, much was made about the Twins' bullpen being a major weakness. That may still prove to be the case over the course of the next six months. But so far, it's been perfectly adequate, and arguably even a strength.

Rogers took over for Bradley in the seventh inning on Tuesday and got three outs. Cole Sands was a little shaky, but he's still allowed only one run this season. Eric Orze picked up Sands and got out of the eighth inning, and Justin Topa came in with one out in the ninth and worked around some trouble to finish it off.

Orze and his splitter have been great so far. Anthony Banda has been very sharp. Kody Funderburk's been solid. Topa joined Sands and Cody Laweryson as the third Twins pitcher to record a save this year. It may not be a great bullpen, but it certainly hasn't been a major issue so far.

It's time for Wallner to stop challenging

The Twins may want to take away Matt Wallner's ABS challenge privileges for a bit. He burned their first of the game on a pitch that caught quite a bit of plate in the bottom of the second inning. Wallner, who missed an even worse one in the first series of the year, is now 1 for 4 this season on challenges. It might be time for him to stop doing that unless it's a high-leverage situation.

Time to ban Wallner from challenging https://t.co/Vk1NewHx1g pic.twitter.com/xCJWz1Z7iC
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) April 8, 2026

Jeffers, meanwhile, has been quite good at challenges. The top half of both the sixth and seventh innings ended on strikeouts after successful challenges from Jeffers behind the plate. He's now 8 of 13 on those this season.