Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels

Cody Bradford appears to be back. Making only his second start since September 2024, Bradford was superb Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, tossing seven innings in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Halos. Manager Skip Schumaker said before the game that Bradford -- whom he called “a large part of our future” -- would be operating on a loose pitch count as he continues to build up after missing all of 2025. As it turns out, 75 pitches was plenty for the 28-year-old southpaw to work deep into the game. He became the third Rangers pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 1988) to complete seven-plus innings on 75 or fewer pitches, joining Andrew Heaney (2024) and Mike Jeffcoat (1989). “He was fantastic,” Schumaker said. “I thought the changeup played really well off the fastball, landed some curveballs when he needed to. Fastball up and in when he needed to. He was a pitch-maker. You could see him taking notes in between innings and trying to make sure that he’s not repeating the same sequences, and just really, really smart, great gameplanning with \[Elias\