The Twins held on for a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, evening the series at a game apiece and marking a milestone for starting pitcher Taj Bradley.
Bradley struck out six batters across six innings to give him 205 strikeouts this season. He becomes the 10th pitcher in Twins history to strike out 200 or more batters in a single season.
The others on that list and the number of times they reached 200 whiffs in a season.
- Bert Blyleven: 6 times.
- Camilo Pascual: 4.
- Johan Santana: 4.
- Dean Chance: 2.
- Jim Kaat: 2.
- And one season each for Pablo Lopez, Jose Berrios, Francisco Liriano, Dave Boswell and Bradley.
It’s been a career year for Bradley after coming to the Twins last season in a deal that sent former reliever Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays.
In addition to reaching 200 whiffs in a season, he also set new marks in wins (12), games started (31), earned run average (3.73) and innings pitched at 178.1.
After his exit from Tuesday’s game, he was followed by four relievers, including Jeff Hoffman who closed out the ninth inning for his sixth save.
The Twins have one more game in the City by the Bay. Connor Prielipp gets the ball Wednesday.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 74-84.
–The Twins improved (ahem) to 17-30 against the National League.
–Bradley’s line: One run allowed on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts across six innings.
–Other highlights from Tuesday’s game: Walker Jenkins — he’s looking like the real deal, folks — hit his fourth home run, Luke Keaschall threw out a runner at second base and Bradley picked off a runner at first base.
–Crazy game in Kansas City: The Chicago White Sox raced out to a 14-4 lead over the Royals, then watched as K.C. reeled off seven runs in the 8th and 9th innings to put a scare into the South Siders. The Pale Hose held on for the 14-11 win.