Texas Rangers Rookie Cody Bradford Earns First Win, Waiting on Game Ball

The Texas Rangers snapped a two-game losing streak behind rookie Cody Bradford, who picked up the first win of his MLB career.

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The Texas Rangers needed a spark. Cody Bradford wanted that first win.

Both happened Friday night in the nation’s capital.

Bradford, a rookie who’s made five spot starts to help keep the rotation fresh, captured the first MLB win of his career in the 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals to open a three-game series. The lefty went five innings and allowed only a first-inning solo home run in place of Martín Pérez, who was getting a start off.

“It feels great,” Bradford said. “I put in a lot of hard work to get this one, and it was hot and sweaty, and I feel like I earned it.”

The 25-year-old native of Aledo, Texas, just west of Fort Worth, had only one decision – a loss – to show for his six previous appearances, including two relief outings. His second start on the road proved to be his best, and followed two losses for the Rangers at the Boston Red Sox earlier this week.

After the game, Bradford admitted that he hadn’t yet received a memento of his first win in the Majors.

“Hopefully, I’ll get a baseball from it,” he said with a smile. “But not at the moment. Not yet.”

He did receive plenty of congratulations from teammates, as well as the kudos from manager Bruce Bochy. Bradford turned things over the bullpen, with Glenn Otto logging two innings and allowing one run.

And despite the Rangers comfortably in front, Bochy deployed the end-of-the-game combo of Aroldis Chapman and Will Smith who worked the last two innings in that order. Neither allowed a run as Texas improved to 2-2 on the six-game road trip going into the All-Star break.

“It’s nice to have a normal game after that series in Boston,” Bochy said. “It started with Cody; I mean nice job. Good fastball going, he located well, had a good changeup and breaking ball, too, so he gave up what we needed and Otto picked him up.

"It’s good to see a well-pitched game. We got the hits. We did a lot of good things.”

The Rangers (52-37) go for the series win Saturday with Andrew Heaney (5-5, 4.12) on the mound opposite Jake Irvin (1-5, 4.70). First pitch from Nationals Park is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

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