TORONTO -- Kevin Cash has had a front-row seat to plenty of dominant starting pitching performances during his 10 seasons managing the Rays. Chris Archer racked up 252 strikeouts in 2015. Blake Snell won the American League Cy Young Award in 2018. Shane McClanahan started the All-Star Game in 2022.
But even Cash hasn¡¯t seen anything quite like what Taj Bradley is doing right now.
¡°As good as any run that I've witnessed here being with the Rays,¡± Cash said. ¡°And we've had a lot of really good pitchers.¡±
Thursday afternoon brought more of the same brilliance from the 23-year-old right-hander. Bradley keyed the Rays¡¯ sixth shutout of the season by pitching six innings with seven strikeouts, allowing only two hits and a walk in a 13-0 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Over his last nine starts dating back to June 8, Bradley owns an MLB-best 0.82 ERA. That is the lowest ERA over any nine-start span in franchise history, excluding openers, topping the 1.03 mark that Snell put together during the stretch run of his Cy Young campaign.
Bradley has pitched 23 consecutive scoreless innings, tied for the third-longest single-season streak in franchise history and the Rays¡¯ longest since reliever Collin McHugh went 23 scoreless from May 27-July 11, 2021.
¡°I'd argue [he¡¯s] probably the best pitcher in the league right now,¡± Brandon Lowe said. ¡°I don't think there's another pitcher that touches him. To say he's been incredible, I feel like, is not giving him enough credit. He's been amazing out there on the mound.¡±
Bradley¡¯s latest gem, and Tampa Bay¡¯s highest-scoring offensive showing of the season, sealed a winning, 4-3 road trip for the Rays and improved their record to 8-1-1 in their last 10 series. They moved back over .500, at 52-51, and pulled within four games of the final AL Wild Card spot.
¡°We did some good things on this road trip,¡± Cash said. ¡°We know we¡¯ve got to find a way to be more than one up, but we won a series and we're happy about that.¡±
The Blue Jays hardly challenged Bradley in the finale, managing only two hard-hit balls (both outs) and whiffing on 13 of their 41 swings. Nearly half of his 83 pitches were fastballs, and another 29% were splitters. Toronto manager John Schneider said Bradley¡¯s splitter was ¡°the equalizer¡± all day.
Asked what Bradley has done so well for nearly two straight months now, Cash answered: ¡°Fastball and split and throwing strikes.¡± It sounds simple, but it¡¯s putting him in what Cash called ¡°an elite category¡± of pitchers.
¡°I mean, it's no secret. I think everyone would agree that he's pitching at an elite level,¡± said catcher Alex Jackson, who continues to get credit from Bradley for his part in this hot streak. ¡°It's really fun to be able to watch him grow and be able to catch him.¡±
The Blue Jays had runners on first and second after a pair of first-inning hits, but Bradley calmly responded by striking out Justin Turner and Daulton Varsho to escape the inning. He retired 11 straight batters, walked Danny Jansen to lead off the fifth inning then mowed down the next six batters in order.
Bradley said he felt a sense of calm even before the game, which he relayed to his mother in a pregame phone call.
¡°Just going out there knowing that your stuff¡¯s gonna be your stuff,¡± Bradley said. ¡°Just knowing that I compete in the zone and stuff like that. If runners get on, they don't gotta score. And there's confidence in knowing I can execute in all aspects.¡±
It was a big day offensively for a handful of Rays, too, who had their highest-scoring performance since they put up 14 runs on April 27, 2023. Isaac Paredes finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Jackson had two hits and three RBIs. Amed Rosario picked up three hits.
And Lowe finished a triple shy of the cycle as he went 4-for-4 -- reaching base in all six plate appearances -- with three RBIs and an upper-deck homer in the first inning off Chris Bassitt.
Lowe also became the first hitter to reach the 500-level seats at Rogers Centre since ¡ himself. Lowe is the fourth hitter to reach the upper deck multiple times, joining Jose Canseco (three times), Edwin Encarnaci¨®n and Josh Phelps.
He and Austin Meadows homered to the upper deck in the same game on April 12, 2019, a memory that crossed his mind as the ball soared a projected 414-feet out to right field.
¡°When I hit it, the first person I thought about was Meadows,¡± he said. ¡°Just happy to put a good swing on it, give us a 1-0 lead with a guy like Taj on the mound.¡±