ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As if the pressure of making a major-league debut at age 22 wasn’t enough, Taj Bradley took the mound Wednesday night at Tropicana Field knowing the Tampa Bay Rays were somehow 11-0, with a chance to finish the night with the longest win streak to start a season by any team since 1987.
“Today was amazing,” a smiling Bradley said after a 9-7 win over the Red Sox, striking out eight batters, one short of the Rays record in a debut. “A little jittery, a little emotional, happy, nervous, every emotion coming at once except anger. I was just excited this day came.”
Even having made the playoffs four years in a row, the Rays are the surprise of baseball’s first two weeks, not only winning 12 straight but getting 10 of those wins by four runs or more. If they can finish a four-game sweep of Boston on Thursday afternoon, they’ll match the 1982 Braves and 1987 Brewers for the best start of any team since the 19th century.
“Any time we’re doing something that is a franchise record is pretty meaningful, impactful,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The guys should be proud of that.”
Bradley, ranked by MLB.com as the Rays’ No. 1 prospect, threw a full-count walk to the first Boston batter he faced, then retired the next nine batters in order, striking out five of them. His nerves settled quickly, helped by a three-run home run by Randy Arozarena in the bottom of the first — the Rays’ 30th this season, third-most ever by any team after 12 games.
By the fourth inning, he had a 6-1 lead, and while the Red Sox got within a run late, relievers Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks closed the game with scoreless innings to seal the victory.
Randy Arozarena LAUNCHES a three-run home run to give the Rays an early 3-0 lead over the Red Sox
Bradley said part of him being able to remain calm under such high-pressure circumstances was him tuning out all the outside noise Tuesday once he realized he was joining a team that hadn’t lost yet this season.
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“I just turned Instagram off, every notification, I didn’t look unless it was family or friends texting me. Other than that, I needed to keep this in the back of my head,” said Bradley, whose mother, Ana Mosley, drove down from Atlanta with his father, brother and sister to watch his debut on her birthday.
Bradley couldn’t fall asleep Tuesday night, having learned of his promotion after a game that afternoon with the Triple-A Durham Bulls. Manager Michael Johns sternly gathered his team in the clubhouse after a loss, but he was just setting up the best news a minor-league manager can deliver.
“You’re thinking ‘OK, he’s going to get after us.’ That was part of his M.O., his delivery,” Bradley said. “He was like ‘But it’s always good to tell somebody they’re getting the call up.’ I’m sitting there, like we don’t know who it is. He started listing off ‘He was drafted in 2018,’ and I’m like ‘That’s me.’ I started thinking ‘I’m the only person (here) in the 2018 class.’ He was like ‘He was a 17-year-old when he got drafted,’ and I’m like ‘That’s me too.’ ‘He used to throw 90-92,’ and I did that! Everything you’re saying is me! He said ‘Taj Bradley, you’re going to pitch in the big leagues tomorrow.’ I was awestruck. Everybody came to shake my hand. Emotions didn’t kick in until I called my mom.”
Even getting from North Carolina to Florida was a rush, with an hour to pack and get an Uber to the airport, reaching his flight five minutes before the gate closed. The Rays told him to upgrade to first class and they’d reimburse him, but there weren’t any seats available, so his trip to the bigs was in the very, very back of the plane.
“Back by the toilets,” he said with a laugh. “I had a window seat with no windows, nothing to look at. There was a seat empty and I tried to get up and go over, but ‘You can’t do that.’ So I went back to my corner and toughed it the whole way through.”
On Wednesday, he had the best view of the best team in baseball. The Rays’ dominance has been nearly unbelievable — they have trailed at the end of just five of the 108 innings they’ve played, stringing together three straight shutouts over the weekend. They have easily the most home runs in baseball, and their pitchers have given up the fewest (four) of any team as well. The 12 straight victories mark the longest win streak at any point in any season in the team’s 25-year history.
The Rays have made it easy for their pitchers with tremendous support. In addition to Arozarena’s home run, they got three hits from shortstop Wander Franco, now batting .340 and tied for the major-league lead with 11 extra-base hits. Bradley is a good example of Tampa Bay’s incredible pitching depth — when starter Zach Eflin joined Tyler Glasnow on the injured list, they were confident in turning to Bradley, who had made only 14 starts at Triple-A before the promotion.
Every part of the lineup has chipped in for the Rays, whose 7-8-9 hitters — Taylor Walls, Christian Bethancourt and Vidal Brujan — went a combined 5-for-9 with five runs in Wednesday’s win. Bethancourt came in 2-for-19 on the season and delivered two key hits, keeping his rookie pitcher calm and in control in his first big-league game.
“We’re not thinking about our record, we’re thinking we have to be aggressive, we have to hustle, we have to be our best version and we can’t be selfish,” Bethancourt said. “That’s a big part of our success. Hopefully we can continue, and get where we want to be, which is the World Series.”
Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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