ARLINGTON -- It appears that Luke Keaschall’s rookie season is over.
Keaschall, who suffered a sprained left thumb on a slide in the Twins’ win on Tuesday night against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, will likely need surgery to repair the injury and is not expected to play again in 2025. He will receive a follow-up examination next week, but the most likely outcome for him is that he will undergo surgery.
“Obviously incredibly disappointing to see his season end like that,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “I talked to him yesterday for a while after the game. He’s obviously down because he wanted to have a really productive offseason. He had a lot of thoughts and a lot of intentions. I know him, and he was going to carry those out. But he also knows that he’s just going to have to take care of business and get his hand healthy and get to work on the baseball side of things after that.”
The injury brings to an end a superb, but injury-hampered season, for Keaschall, who missed more than three months in the middle of the year after suffering a broken bone in his right arm. When he was able to play, Keaschall was one of the brightest spots in a trying Twins season, posting a .302/.382/.445 slash line with 14 steals and 18 extra-base hits in 49 games.
“I'm happy I got to be here and the opportunity to be with a good group of guys and go out and compete every day,” Keaschall said. “I like to try and stay in the present moment and I feel like I did a good job of that this year, trying to maximize each day and keep trying to do it next year and build off it.”
Bradley ends on a high
It’s been a tumultuous year for Taj Bradley, who began the year as the Rays’ third starter, was demoted to Triple-A in July, then traded, and has spent the last month pitching for the Twins. But he finished it on a high note with one of his best starts of the year.
Bradley allowed one run on two hits with two walks in the Twins’ 4-2 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field. He struck out nine to wrap up his 2025 season with a quality start. He had particular success with his curveball, using it to finish off six of those nine strikeouts.
“It's the last one,” Bradley said. “It'll give you peace of mind and let you know that during the course of the season -- you finished strong. And [despite] everything you went through during the season, you were able to regroup yourself. Putting it to work in your last outing, just going into the offseason with some plans going into next season. Hopefully you can capitalize off it.”
Festa to receive injection
Right-hander David Festa had a follow-up appointment Wednesday with Dr. Gregory Pearl regarding the thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder. Pearl agreed with an earlier assessment of Festa, and the plan is for Festa to receive Botox injections Thursday.
The injections are expected to ease the pressure that has led to consistent discomfort for Festa, and the hope is that he should experience relief almost immediately. The club believes that he could experience something very much like a normal offseason following the procedure.
“You get an immediate return sometimes on these,” said Twins head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta. “It's why it's called a diagnostic injection. He won't throw [yet], but it'll get just the general achiness gone. Then his offseason would start off the way it normally does. He's probably going to take 4-6 weeks off throwing and then we'll get him cranked up again.”
Rotation set
The Twins had an interesting question when it came to setting up their rotation over the final four days. Three pitchers who are slated to start -- Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Mick Abel -- all last pitched in the Sept. 20 doubleheader against Cleveland. So one was going to go on the normal four days’ rest, one on five, and one on six.
The club announced the decision Wednesday. Ober will make his final start of the season Thursday afternoon in Arlington, with Ryan going on five days’ rest in the series opener Friday in Philadelphia. Abel will face his former team in the season’s penultimate game Saturday. Simeon Woods Richardson will start the season finale.