Cody Bradford - Roughed up in return from IL Bradford (rib/back) gave up five earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out two over two innings out of the bullpen in Tuesday's 8-1 loss to the Cardinals. Impact Bradford had started in each of his first three appearances of the season with the Rangers before he landed on the injured list in mid-April with a stress fracture in his rib as well as a lower-back strain. With the Rangers set to get some reinforcements to their rotation in August with the expected returns of Tyler Mahle (elbow) and Jacob deGrom (elbow) from the IL, Bradford prepared for a relief role during his rehab assignment before being reinstated from the 60-day IL on Monday. The Rangers turned to Bradford out of the bullpen a day later, and he had an outing to forget versus the Cardinals, with Tommy Pham's grand slam representing most of the damage against the right-hander. After Jon Gray's (groin) surprise placement on the IL on Monday, the Rangers will have an opening in the rotation this weekend in Boston, but Bradford's poor showing out of the bullpen Tuesday was enough to take him out of consideration. Jose Urena will instead be called upon to make a start Friday.
AUGUST 2 • ROTOWIRE