How hometown pitcher Cody Bradford fared in his Major League debut for the Texas Rangers

It wasn’t the debut that Cody Bradford had in mind.

The former Aledo High and Baylor star made his Major League Baseball debut for the hometown Texas Rangers on Monday night at Globe Life Field against the Atlanta Braves.

Unfortunately for him, it was a rough outing.

The Braves, owners of the best record in the National League, scored six runs off Bradford in five innings en route to a 12-0 win over the Rangers.

“Obviously not how anybody draws up their debut, but God blessed me with an amazing opportunity to pitch at home in front of a lot of friends and family, so I’ll definitely take that,” Bradford said. “The Braves did a good job of hitting pitches over the middle of the plate tonight. Kudos to those guys, and I just hope the next opportunity goes up a little bit better.”

Bradford allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out three. He throw 90 pitches, 56 for strikes.

The Braves collected big hits against him. In the second inning, Kevin Pillar and Ronald Acuna Jr. hit two-run homers to stake the visitors to a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies hit run-scoring doubles. Bradford left the game trailing 6-0.

“It’s tough to debut against this club,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He battled, gave us five innings. It’s always good to get your first start; he’ll learn from this. Just wasn’t our night, pitching side, hitting side.”

The Rangers optioned him back to Triple-A Round Rock on Tuesday.

The fact that Bradford was on the mound was a huge story. According to the Rangers’ media relations, Bradford is the fourth native Texas pitcher to make his pitching debut with the Rangers in Arlington. The list includes: Glenn Otto on Aug. 21, 2021 vs. Houston, Chris Young on Aug. 24, 2004 vs. Minnesota, and Jim Gideon on Sept. 14, 1975 vs. Chicago-AL.e

His trip to the majors was one of perseverance and triumph. He overcame Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which caused him to miss much of the 2019 season after he was selected in the sixth round of the draft.

In 2018, he was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year when he 7-6 with a 2.58 ERA for the Bears. He struck out 87 batters in 92 innings.

Those superb statistics were enough for the Rangers to give him a $700,000 signing bonus, more than twice the slot value of the sixth-round draft selection.

After starting his career in 2020, minor league baseball was shutdown for the year because of the pandemic.

Bradford, 25, has a 5-1 record and a 0.91 ERA over seven starts at Round Rock in the Pacific Coast League before his promotion. His has a 21-12 record and a 4.03 ERA with 289 strikeouts in 254.2 innings during his minor league career.

A standout high school pitcher at Aledo, he posted a 0.64 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 66 innings in his senior year in 2016.

This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 10:02 PM.