Barria certainly provided the Angels a sense of relief, the club currently having three projected starters -- Andrew Heaney, Matt Shoemaker and JC Ramirez -- on the disabled list.
Barria, 21, began last season at Class-A Inland Empire before being promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake. On Wednesday, making his major league debut, he gave up just one hit -- a solo homer to Ryan Rua in the third inning. Barria (1-0) walked three and struck out three while making 71 pitches.
Kole Calhoun had three hits and Jefry Marte had two to lead the offense for the Angels, who improved to 10-3, matching their best record through 13 games in franchise history (1979, '82). Los Angeles has won seven of eight and 10 of the past 12.
The Angels got on the scoreboard against Rangers starter Matt Moore in the second inning, getting a rally going with two outs.
Calhoun singled and went to second on an infield single by Marte. Shohei Ohtani followed with an opposite-field single to left field, driving in Calhoun for the first run.
Rene Rivera then singled to drive in Marte and put the Angels up 2-0 before Moore got out of the inning.
Rua led off the third inning with a home run off Barria to cut the Angels' lead in half at 2-1. For Rua, who is off to a slow start, hitting just .150, it was his first homer of the season.
The Angels got the run back in the fourth when Calhoun singled and scored on a triple by Marte. Moore, though, got out of further trouble in the inning, getting Justin Upton on a flyout with the bases loaded for the third out.
Moore (0-3) got through five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks, but the Angels immediately went to work on the Rangers' bullpen in the sixth.
Zack Cozart had an RBI triple and Mike Trout a sacrifice fly to increase the Angels' lead to 5-1 in the sixth. Calhoun added a two-run single in the ninth to make it 7-1.
Jurickson Profar's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth accounted for the Rangers' second run.
--Field Level Media
LA Angels | Texas | |
Jaime Barria | Player | Matt Moore |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.0 | IP | 5.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 2 |
1 | Hits | 7 |
1.80 | ERA | 5.40 |
LA Angels | Texas | |
Kole Calhoun | Player | Jurickson Profar |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.600 | Avg | .400 |