For a franchise with a pitching history as illustrious as the Twins, it’s hard to believe there were any pitching feats not previously accomplished. But Taj Bradley did something in the Twins' 4-2 loss on Tuesday night that it is believed no Minnesota pitcher had ever done before.
Facing the 8-9-1 hitters in the Athletics’ order in the bottom of the fifth, Bradley threw what is believed to be the first immaculate inning in Twins history, striking out three batters on nine pitches.
He got Carlos Cortes swinging on a 92.3 mph 0-2 splitter down out of the zone. Then with another 0-2 count, he got Brian Serven to chase a curveball. And he finished off the feat against leadoff man Henry Bolte, getting a called strike on a perfectly located 0-2 fastball, 99.8 mph at the very bottom of the strike zone.
The final pitch came with a little assistance from catcher Victor Caratini, who recognized the potential feat as it was happening.
“On the last pitch, that's why I called a fastball, because I was like, '[Expletive] it, best pitch,'” Caratini said. “He threw, like, 100 [mph] and the batter was frozen. That's pretty nice.”
They were the seventh, eighth and ninth strikeouts of the game for Bradley, who finished with 11 to equal a career high.
Overall the right-hander was dominant, but two brief stretches doomed him in the defeat. He allowed a two-out double and homer in the second inning, and another two-out, two-run rally in the sixth.