MINNEAPOLIS — The way Taj Bradley is pitching right now, the Minnesota Twins must feel pretty good about their chances as they navigate a critical month ahead.With his cut-fastball in tiptop shape to pair with a fastball that touched 99.6 mph and a nasty split-fingered fastball, Bradley sliced and diced the Cleveland Guardians in the opener of an important three-game series Tuesday night.Bradley reached double-digit strikeouts for a second straight outing, whiffing 10 over seven dominant innings as the Twins topped the Guardians 3-1 at Target Field. After struggling a month ago, the right-hander continued a summertime surge by generating 25 swings-and-misses, the fourth most by any major-league pitcher this season.The timing couldn’t be better for a Twins team that is doing all it can to force ownership and the front office to add to the roster ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.Making sense of MLBPA's proposed rule changesKeith Law“(Bradley) was lights out,” Twins designated hitter Josh Bell said. “Tough at-bats. Stacking up strikeouts, just doing what he does. … This whole month, we know it’s important. We’ve got to push. We’ve got to play our best baseball and then see what happens at the end of it. We can’t really control anything other than playing our game. But we know what’s on the line.”If Bradley can maintain this roll, the Twins know they have a rotation that can compete in the American League Central. With Tuesday’s victory, the Twins are only three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox and two back of the Guardians.Winners in six of their previous seven series, the Twins are still making things interesting in part because of the consistency Bradley’s provided for most of the season aside from a three-start slump in late May/early June.