Twins Pummel Nationals Behind Bradley’s Brilliance and Buxton’s Blast

The Minnesota Twins came to Nationals Park on Tuesday and reminded Washington exactly why this team is built to compete in October. With an 11-3 throttling of the Nationals, the Twins showed the kind of balanced, relentless offensive attack that winning baseball teams are made of. This wasn’t a slugfest. This was a clinic.

Bradley Dominates, Cavalli Implodes

Taj Bradley was simply outstanding for Minnesota, striking out eight batters over six innings while allowing just four hits and two earned runs. The kid’s got command, poise, and stuff. Meanwhile, Cade Cavalli lasted only four innings for Washington, giving up five hits and three runs while walking three. That’s the difference between a team going somewhere and a team treading water. The Nationals needed length and reliability from their starter. They got neither.

Here’s the thing about Cavalli’s outing that should concern Nationals fans: he wasn’t getting punished for location mistakes. He was getting punished for lack of control. Three walks in four innings is unacceptable at this level, and the Twins capitalized on every mistake. Brooks Lee drove in two runs with a sharp double in the second inning, immediately putting Minnesota ahead 2-1. By the fourth, the game was effectively over.

Twins Manufacture Runs Early, Explode Late

The Twins didn’t need to hit home runs early to take control. They did it the old-fashioned way: line drives, extra bases, and fundamental baseball. Trevor Larnach’s two-run double in the fourth stretched the lead to 4-1. Josh Bell added an RBI single in the seventh. This was patient, professional hitting from a team that knows how to build leads.

Then Byron Buxton came along in the eighth and put an exclamation point on the evening with a three-run bomb that made it 10-3. Buxton went 1-for-6 on the night, but that one swing accounted for three runs and essentially sealed the deal. That’s the kind of impact at-bat that separates contenders from pretenders. Brooks Lee added another RBI double in the ninth for good measure.

The Nationals scored three runs, sure. Curtis Mead drove in one, James Wood drove in one, and CJ Abrams contributed an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the first. But three runs against a team this disciplined? It was never going to be enough. Washington’s problem Tuesday wasn’t that they didn’t score. Their problem was that Minnesota scored eleven.

The Nationals are stuck in a frustrating middle ground right now. They’re not bad enough to tank, not good enough to compete for anything meaningful. Cavalli’s inability to get through five innings is particularly galling because it forces the bullpen to work earlier than planned in games they’re already losing. You can’t sustain a season that way.

Minnesota, on the other hand, walked out of Washington with exactly what they came for: a statement win against a division rival, a dominant pitching performance, and offensive contributions from multiple lineup spots. This is a team executing at a high level. The Twins are the kind of opponent that scares you in September. The Nationals? Right now, they’re the kind of team that wonders what went wrong.