Rangers' reliever Burke breaks his non
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Rangers reliever Brock Burke broke his non-throwing hand while punching a wall following a poor outing Friday night against the Houston Astros.
Manager Bruce Bochy said Burke, who is a left-hander, broke his right hand when he punched the wall “out of frustration” and was placed on the injured list Saturday.
The 27-year-old allowed three hits and four runs in the seventh inning of his team’s 12-8 win.
“We want our guys, our athletes to be competitive and hate to lose, but with that passion there’s a fine edge, and when you cross that line there’s going to be consequences,” Bochy said. “And we just saw what happened there. You love the fact that he was upset with not helping the club last night … but it just wasn’t a smart move.”
The Astros were unhappy at Burke’s plunking of the elbow of slugger Yordan Alvarez after almost hitting him on three previous pitches inside. Alvarez stared Burke down before trotting to first base. Kyle Tucker sent Burke’s next pitch into the second deck in left field for his second home of the game and punctuated it with a bat flip.