Texas Rangers Rookies Help Split Angels Doubleheader With 3-2 Win
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — It was their second doubleheader in two weeks and it didn't begin on a high note, but youth won out for the Texas Rangers in the end against the Los Angeles Angels.
Nick Solak hit his first career homer in the nightcap, after making his big league debut in the opener, and then had the hard shot that was misplayed by first baseman Albert Pujols. That two-out error in the 11th inning allowed Delino DeShields to score from second base and give the Rangers a 3-2 win Tuesday night.
"Tried to put a ball in play. It got by him ... it was fun," said Solak, brought up from Triple-A Nashville after Nomar Mazar went on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique.
Emmanuel Clase (1-2), the hard-throwing 21-year-old right-hander making his eighth appearance since his MLB debut earlier this month, worked two perfect innings for his first major league victory.
Clase was the fourth Texas reliever after 23-year-old Brock Burke, acquired from Tampa Bay in an offseason trade, pitched six scoreless innings in his big league debut.
"Obviously with a lot of younger guys, we've got a lot of energy. I think that kind of gets us through," first-year manager Chris Woodward said. "They just bring a ton of energy in that situation because they're hungry to be out there."
In the opener, Andrew Heaney had a career-high 14 strikeouts without a walk over eight innings and Mike Trout matched the MLB lead with his career-best 42nd homer in the Angels' 5-1 win. Luis Rengifo also went deep .
The Angels had a 3-0 lead, including Trout's two-run shot, before Heaney threw his first pitch in a game when the temperature reached 100 degrees.
"Everybody knows it's hot, just trying to get as deep into the game as I can, try to save the bullpen, all of those things," Heaney said. "I think sometimes that should be the mentality you have every single time you go out."
The doubleheader opener was the makeup of the July 1 game that was postponed after pitcher Tyler Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room the last time the Angels played in Texas. The coroner hasn't released a cause of death for Skaggs, who was 27.
Heaney, one of the Skaggs' best friends, had 10 of his strikeouts during the stretch of 16 consecutive retired batters before Willie Calhoun's homer with two outs in the sixth. Heaney threw 79 of his 108 pitches for strikes.
In the nightcap, DeShields reached on a one-out single in the 11th off Ty Buttrey (6-6), the sixth Angels pitcher. DeShields stole second after Rougned Odor struck out before Logan Forsythe walked to bring up Solak, who had a solo homer in the fifth.
Solak got a hard shot past Pujols, the 39-year-old first baseman who was on a knee and reaching to his left when the ball got by him.
Burke exited with a 2-0 lead but Shohei Ohtani had a two-out RBI double off Shawn Kelley in the eighth, and Brian Goodwin hit a game-tying solo homer in the ninth off closer Jose Leclerc.
Recalled from Nashville between games, Burke struck out four and walked two. He threw 67 of his 99 pitches for strikes and limited the Angels to four hits — two each by Ohtani and Pujols.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
