ARLINGTON, Texas _ Brock Burke couldn't have asked for a much better debut.
The left-hander held the Los Angeles Angels to four hits over six shutout innings and was in line to win his first-career start Tuesday night at Globe Life Park before a game-tying homer by Brian Goodwin against Jose Leclerc sent it into extra innings tied at 2-2 and knocked Burke from the pitcher of record.
The Rangers won it 3-2 when a fielding error by Angels' first baseman allowed Delino DeShields to score from second base in the 11th inning.
Burke, who turned 23 on Aug. 4, struck out four, walked two and allowed two hits each to Shohei Ohtani and Albert Pujols. Pujol's double was misplayed by left-fielder Willie Calhoun. One of the singles was an infield single to third and another skipped off Burke's glove. In the sixth, with his pitch count in the 90s, Ohtani and Justin Upton reached on a single and walk but Burke induced a fly out to right from Pujols to end the inning.
He's the fourth Rangers' pitcher and first since Brian Sikorski in 2000, to throw at least six scoreless innings in his debut start. Burke is the only left-hander to do that in club history. He's rated the No. 7 prospect in the organization by MLB.com.
And what a debut it was for Burke.
The Rangers lefty went six scoreless innings in his MLB start, issuing two walks and striking out four.
And he struck out Mike Trout!
The Rangers scored twice in the fifth inning. Rookie Nick Solak, who collected his first major league hit in Game 1 of Tuesday's double-header, homered with one out in the fifth to give Texas a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Jose Trevino doubled and scored on Danny Santana's single to left. Ohtani's double scored David Fletcher to pull the Angles to within 2-1 in the eighth against after Kelley replaced Martin with one out and none on.
Solak is the one who sent a one-hopper past Pujols in the 11th to score DeShields with the winning run.
He threw 99 pitches, the most he's thrown this season. He had only made two Triple-A starts with Nashville before being called up. The most pitches he'd thrown this season was 88. The threw more than 100 pitches in a game four times in 2018.
Burke missed almost two months (April 23-June 16) while recovering from a blister and left shoulder fatigue in the minors. The Rangers acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays in December 2018 in a three-team, sever-player trade that included Jurickson Profar going to the Oakland A's.
