Bradford's latest gem backed by García's heroics, stellar defense

ARLINGTON -- Left-hander Cody Bradford called baseball a weird sport.

He had arguably the worst outing of his career against the D-backs on Sept. 11, allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) over just 3 2/3 innings. Then, as he returned to the mound on Wednesday night, Bradford bounced back in a big way with arguably the best start of his young career, with seven scoreless innings to lead the Rangers to a 2-0 victory over the Blue Jays at Globe Life Field.

“Baseball is a weird sport. Anytime you have a rough start, you’re going to be pitching again. This week, it was seven days later,” Bradford said. “Throughout the week, you’ve just got to try and digest what happened. See where you can make adjustments, whether it was just the game plan went wrong, or just poor execution, or a little bit of both. Then you flush it.”

Any lingering doubts from his previous start faded quickly.

Bradford opened the game with four perfect innings before Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk reached on a single that ricocheted off Bradford’s left ankle and into shallow right field to lead off the fifth inning. Spencer Horwitz then doubled to left to put runners on second and third with no outs.

But Bradford worked out of that jam by retiring the next three batters. He also stranded runners in the sixth and seventh innings. Bradford finished his scoreless gem with six strikeouts and no walks.

It was Bradford’s first career start in which he didn’t allow a run. In an April 10 start vs. Oakland earlier this season, he allowed one unearned run over 6 2/3 innings.

Manager Bruce Bochy said Bradford’s performance ranked among his best -- possibly the best -- to date.

“It’s hard to say that because he’s had some really good ones,” Bochy said. “He was right on tonight. He just looked determined to bounce back after a rough outing there in Arizona.”

Offensively, the Rangers broke a scoreless game on a two-run home run by Adolis García in the sixth. It was the 70th home run by Garcia at Globe Life Field, joining the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (90 home runs at Yankee Stadium) as the only players in MLB with 70 or more home runs at a single venue since the start of the 2021 season.

García also shined in the field, making a terrific leaping catch at the wall to rob Blue Jays third baseman Addison Barger of a possible extra-base hit to start the third inning. Barger sent a first-pitch fastball to the right-center-field fence, right where the wall angles out from the visitors’ bullpen, and García tracked it down. Bradford celebrated the catch afterward.

“Adolis is a fan favorite,” Bradford said. “When he is going well, he is so much fun to watch -- snagging balls like that in the outfield, hitting homers. That’s what he does.”

Bradford benefited from another nice defensive play in the sixth. Rangers third baseman Josh Jung made a diving stop on a sharply hit grounder by Davis Schneider for the second out.

“[Defensive plays like that] give you a lot of confidence to throw the ball over the plate,” Bradford said.

Bradford pounded the zone early on, throwing just six balls over the first four innings (29 of his 35 pitches were for strikes). He ended the game with 90 pitches, 61 for strikes.

Over his 12 starts this season, Bradford has 64 strikeouts to just nine walks. He is the first Texas pitcher to post a 12-start stretch with 60 or more strikeouts and nine or fewer walks since Cliff Lee did it during the 2010 season.

“He’s just so good with his command and his preparation and that works up here,” Bochy said. “You don’t have to throw 95 mph.”