Bradley growing into new bullpen role

Archie Bradley strikes out Tyler Naquin swinging for the first out of the top of the 8th inningPHOENIX -- This past offseason, D-backs right-hander Archie Bradley grew a brown, bushy beard that would make any mountain man proud. He said teammate Robbie Ray encouraged him to do it. Now Ray's clean-shaven, but Bradley's beard remains.

"I've never grown one, so here we go," Bradley said after pitching two clutch innings of relief at Chase Field sandwiched between starter Patrick Corbin, left-hander Andrew Chafin and closer Fernando Rodney in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Indians. "I've trimmed it and cleaned it up, so ..."

Imagine if Bradley hadn't. A starter, who has had more injury than success in…