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MLB Taj Bradley recorded five of his 10 strikeouts using his splitter. Jordan Johnson / Imagn Images MINNEAPOLIS — Taj Bradley is showing the Minnesota Twins and everyone else in baseball exactly why they traded away a top-flight reliever to acquire him last season. Already off to a strong start in the early going, the Minnesota Twins pitcher delivered his best performance to date Tuesday night, outdueling Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in a 4-2 victory in front of an announced 12, 341 at Target Field. Advertisement Relying heavily on a splitter he lost command of last year and his curveball, Bradley overcame fastball-command issues and struck out 10 as Minnesota beat Detroit for the second night in a row. Bradley yielded an earned run over 6 1/3 innings, and the Twins offense backed him with a four-run outburst to knock Skubal out in the fifth inning. “There is no doubt in anyone’s eyes in this room that (Bradley) was an ace-caliber pitcher, ” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We couldn’t have been more excited to get him over here.  It’s not often you get a chance to have a starter that throws 100 (mph) in your rotation. … And we (heard) about this splitter that’s developing. ‘Hey,  he’s working on his splitter.  That’s going to be the key. ’ He comes into spring,  and that splitter is a legit weapon. ” When he arrived in the majors in 2023, a top-50 prospect in baseball across the board, Bradley impressed scouts with outstanding fastball velocity and a disgusting splitter to pair alongside. For two seasons, Bradley used the splitter to befuddle opponents, who batted . 207 against it with only 16 extra-base hits in 232 at-bats while striking out 95 times. But somewhere along the way, Bradley lost his feel for the splitter. “I was just trying to wrap my head around like, something left, ” Bradley said. “(I was) wondering if it was ever going to come back. ” After the July 31, 2025, trade that brought him to the Twin Cities, Bradley’s first destination was Triple-A St. Paul to continue working on rediscovering the pitch. The Twins understood how good the splitter could be and wanted Bradley to take his time and work on it. Though the effort was unwavering and Bradley made gains, he never quite found a version he was comfortable with before heading home for the winter. But this offseason, Bradley worked overtime to rediscover that feel. Somewhere along the way, he found it. In doing so, he made a decision. Advertisement “I had some rough bullpens with it, had some great bullpens with it, ” Bradley said. “Live and learn. Going into spring training this year, I said, ‘Forget all the metrics about it. If I feel comfortability with it, I’ll just make it a good pitch. ’” To date, the splitter has been dazzling and a big part of what Bradley and the Twins believe is the pitcher maturing. On Tuesday, Bradley’s command of a four-seam fastball that touched 98 mph wasn’t as good as it had been in starts in Baltimore and Kansas City. Instead, he and Jeffers decided to lean on the splitter, curveball and cut-fastball. Whereas Bradley generated one swing-and-miss in the 48 fastballs he threw, he accrued 14 whiffs among his 56 off-speed pitches. Though Detroit notched the first and second hits off Bradley’s splitter all season, the pitch proved extremely effective as he struck out five and recorded seven outs with it. “That’s pretty impressive, ” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “The mix was good. What was more impressive was at times he lost his fastball, lost command of his fastball, and to be able to go back to the split and the curveball — I thought Ryan did a really nice job with him. ” Bradley didn’t face many obstacles in his duel with Skubal, who cruised to his second straight American League Cy Young Award in 2025. Only three times in the seven innings Bradley was on the mound did Detroit put a runner in scoring position. The Tigers’ best chance arrived in the second inning when Bradley hit Javier Báez to load the bases with two outs. One pitch later, Bradley escaped the jam as Detroit leadoff hitter Colt Keith grounded out on a splitter. From there, Bradley retired 13 of the next 15 batters, including eight in a row into the fifth inning. Pairing a diving splitter with a fastball that touched 98 mph on a chilly night, Bradley kept Detroit hitters off-balance. He struck out two batters in each of the first, second and sixth innings, generating nine swings-and-misses with his splitter and 15 overall in 104 pitches. Taj Bradley, Painted 91mph Splitter ? ️? 9th K thru 6 pic. twitter. com/Ss Dge OSEfl — Rob Friedman (@Pitching Ninja) April 8, 2026 As his pitch count neared triple digits, Bradley yielded a pair of singles to start the seventh inning. Shelton stuck with Bradley one more batter, and he responded by striking out Báez, walking off to a loud ovation from the crowd. Advertisement “(The ovation) meant a lot, ” Bradley said. “(The splitter) is a big difference-maker, especially with the fastball coming off the same sight line and tunneling it well. ” Though it’s only three starts, Bradley looks as if he could be a big difference-maker for the Twins. The Twins are 3-0 when Bradley pitches this season and 2-6 in the rest of their games. The start comes on the heels of a good spring in which Bradley felt he achieved all he wanted to. Making what he deemed to be the best decision for himself and the Twins, Bradley opted in late February to skip pitching for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He instead wanted to stay in Twins camp to focus on the season ahead. As spring ended, Bradley was pleased with his decision, citing his March 22 exhibition start. In that outing, Bradley made a throwing error and yielded three first-inning runs, hitting his pitch count with only one out. He exited temporarily but returned in the second and posted three zeroes. More importantly, Bradley was able to complete that day’s work in the low-pressure environment of spring training. Asked what changed, Bradley said he was learning not to let little moments ruin his entire day. He credited talks with veteran teammates such as Pablo López and Byron Buxton for the advice. “Say f— it, ” Bradley said. “You’ve got a lot of older guys to tell you some stuff, and being young and naive, it kind of goes over your head until you have the moment. You have to put it into effect in that moment and you see it’s not that big a deal. ” Before Tuesday’s outing, Bradley demonstrated his ability to flush the bad moments in his first two starts of the regular season. In Baltimore, Bradley brushed aside a 33-pitch first inning to strike out nine batters and lead the Twins to their first victory. Then Thursday in Kansas City, Bradley struck out Bobby Witt Jr. with two runners on en route to pitching six scoreless. “We are seeing him continuing to mature right in front of our eyes, ” Shelton said. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Dan Hayes is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Twins. Dan joined The Athletic after 5 1/2 years at NBC Sports Chicago and eight years at The North County Times, where he covered the Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres, four World Series, the NBA Finals, NHL Stanley Cup Final, NASCAR, UFC, Little League World Series, PGA and the NFL. Follow Dan on Twitter @Dan Hayes MLB