HOUSTON — Some pitchers are the weather delay guy. Some always seem to have their starts fall on day games. Apparently, Taj Bradley is the Minnesota Twins pitcher most likely to sit through long innings while his offense goes to town.For the third straight start, the Twins offense gave Bradley plenty of time to leave an imprint of his body on the bench in the visiting dugout. Josh Bell, Luke Keaschall and Kody Clemens all homered, helping Bradley thrive despite several long waits as the Twins topped the Houston Astros 8-3 on Wednesday night at Daikin Park and clinched a second consecutive series win and a third straight series victory on the road.Bradley made the most of his lavish support, striking out 11 batters in five innings, including retiring 10 straight via strikeouts between the first and fourth innings. In doing so, Bradley became the first pitcher in Twins history (1961) to record 10 straight outs via strikeouts, though it wasn’t in consecutive order as four batters reached base during the streak.
Taj Bradley strikes out the side 🔥
He's got 10 Ks through 4 innings! pic.twitter.com/y1Ewx6e6HK
— MLB (@MLB) July 2, 2026“I feel like I’m right where I need to be mentally, physically, everything,” Bradley said. “Not closer (to it), I’m at the destination. Now, it’s just keeping it, knowing who I am and staying on that track.”After finding success earlier this season, Bradley struggled when he returned from a stint on the injured list. He was disheveled after a tough June 9 start in Detroit and in search of answers.Though he wasn’t perfect in his next start after that, Bradley felt he could see light at the end of the tunnel. Now, he’s speeding through it, even if his offense is dragging out innings with great plate appearances.Before he set foot on the mound Wednesday, Bradley had to sit and wait. Bell homered off Tatsuya Imai with two outs in the first inning to make it 2-0, and the Twins went on to load the bases and send eight batters to the plate.An inning later, an early lead was stretched to 5-1 as Clemens belted a three-run homer and the Twins sent seven batters to the plate. Bradley said he’ll sometimes throw the ball in the tunnel to the clubhouse to stay loose. He also wears a towel to stay warm and, if an inning goes really long, he’ll do dynamic warmups to keep a sweat going.“He’s done a really good job navigating it,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He stayed in his delivery. … He had the ability to execute pitches. Overall, I thought he was really good.”Two starts ago, Bradley sat through a 10-run inning in Phoenix. Last time out, the Twins scored seven runs for him against the Colorado Rockies.
