Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Taj Bradley achieved a rare feat Tuesday night, throwing an immaculate inning in the fifth frame of the team's 4-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Bradley became the first pitcher in Twins franchise history to accomplish the milestone.
Facing the Athletics' No. 8, 9, and 1 hitters, Bradley retired each batter on three pitches. He began the sequence by striking out left fielder Carlos Cortes with a combination of fastballs and a splitter. Next, catcher Brian Serven fell victim to a mix of curveballs and fastballs. The inning concluded with Bradley striking out center fielder Henry Bolte, with the final pitch being a 100 mph fastball that froze the batter.
"On the last pitch, that's why I called a fastball, because I was like, '(Expletive) it, best pitch,'" catcher Victor Caratini said, according to MLB.com. "He threw, like, 100 (mph) and the batter was frozen. That's pretty nice."
Despite the historic inning, Bradley took the loss. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out 11 batters. This outing tied his career-high for strikeouts in a game.
Bradley has had a strong season for the Twins, holding a record of 9-6 with a 3.97 earned run average. In 147 1/3 innings pitched, he has recorded 169 strikeouts. The Twins, with a 64-69 record, are set to play the Athletics (52-81) in the final game of their series on Wednesday.