Cody Bradford set for Rangers return after elbow surgery, Jordan Montgomery could soon follow

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Cody Bradford is set Wednesday to make his first start for the Texas Rangers since the end of the 2024 season in the left-hander's comeback from elbow surgery.

Manager Skip Schumaker said after the Rangers' 5-4 win over San Francisco on Tuesday night that Bradford will start the finale in that series Wednesday afternoon instead of making another rehab start.

Bradford was part of the Rangers' only World Series title as a rookie in 2023, when he was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five relief appearances during the playoffs. He was 4-3 with a 5.30 in 20 regular-season games (eight starts).

His return to the mound for the Rangers will come a day after they snapped a season-worst six-game losing streak that dropped them out of the lead in the AL West. It also came after the trade deadline passed Monday without Texas adding any starting pitchers.

The Rangers are also awaiting the season debut of left-hander Jordan Montgomery, another key piece of the championship run. He returned to Texas in free agency this spring while rehabbing from a second elbow reconstruction surgery.

Bradford went 6-3 with a 3.54 ERA while starting 13 of his 14 games in 2024, and went into spring training last season as a candidate for the starting rotation. But he had elbow issues that eventually led to an internal brace surgery in June 2025.

His recovery took a bit longer than expected, with him shut down for three weeks because of elbow tightness after his first Triple-A start April 2. He didn't pitch in another game for three months, but struck out 16 with two walks while allowing only one run over nine innings in four minor league starts in July.

Montgomery threw five scoreless innings for Triple-A Round Rock on Sunday, and has given up one run over 9 1/3 innings his last two starts. The 33-year-old Montgomery has made eight minor league appearances since mid-June.

A trade-deadline acquisition from St. Louis in 2023, Montgomery went 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 11 regular-season games for the Rangers before winning two AL Championship Series games. That included 2 1/3 innings in relief in the Game 7 ALCS clincher in Houston. He went 3-1 in six games that postseason, the loss coming when starting Game 2 of the World Series against Arizona.

He then left in free agency and didn’t sign until late the following spring with the Diamondbacks, going 8-7 with a 6.23 ERA in 2024 before missing all of the 2025 season following his Tommy John surgery.

Over eight big league seasons with the New York Yankees, St. Louis, Texas and Arizona, Montgomery is 46-41 with a 4.03 ERA in 166 games (161 starts).

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