Cody Bradford fired 4.1 scoreless innings in his first MLB appearance since 2024 as the Texas Rangers beat the San Francisco Giants.
ARLINGTON, Texas - It had been exactly 679 days since Cody Bradford stepped foot on a Major League mound but if you watched him pitch on Wednesday afternoon, you wouldn’t be able to tell.
Bradford fired 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out five to help the Texas Rangers take down the San Francisco Giants at Globe Life Field.
“I saw that stat on the screen actually that it was over 600 days since his [Bradford’s] last start” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after the game.
“I don’t think people realize how difficult it is mentally, not only physically but mentally to grind through a rehab like that after having real success at the Major League level early on. That grind, there’s some tough days and that’s everybody so to watch anyone come out of rehab especially what he [Bradford] went through, there’s a lot of emotions and it was special to see him do it…”
Schumaker had never seen Bradford pitch live before Wednesday but everything he saw and heard about the young left-hander came to fruition.
“Just like I saw on video, it was this unique fastball that is tough to get to, the changeup is real, he can throw it at any time, he was landing his curveball where he wanted, the slider was good, he was on the attack and throwing strikes, and that’s so hard to do after missing two years”
“It just felt like he was the same guy in a start that we really needed to win today too to win a series so there was a good that happened today but it always starts with starting pitching and we’re really happy to have Cody back” Schumaker finished.
The Rangers offense was able to get Bradford some early run support as they put up four runs in the third inning, highlighted by a two-run triple off the bat of Justin Foscue which snapped an 0-for-13 stretch.
“He [Focsue] needed it, we needed it. He struggled a little bit since the All-Star break especially against left-handed pitching. We need to get him going because he’s a real platoon advantage for us…”
In the fifth and eigith innings, Texas got a pair of insurance runs on a Brandon Nimmo solo home run and Nicky Lopez RBI single respectively.
Following Bradford’s outing four Rangers relievers combined to finish off the team’s 10th shutout of the season and to claim the series victory over San Francisco.
“After a really tough road trip to come back home and maybe play the worst game of our season to start off the home stand wasn’t ideal and for them to come back the way they did to win a series, that was a huge team win…” Schumaker said.
