Locke made his Indians' debut in 1959 against the Boston Red Sox. He was the starting pitcher for the Indians, and his first pitch was to Don Buddin. After recording two outs, the first hit he gave up was to Vic Wertz, which resulted in Gene Stephens scoring the first run against Locke. In his debut he pitched for 5 2/3 innings and gave up five runs, but still managed to walk away with the no-decision. However, his main contribution to his debut was hitting a home run off Frank Sullivan, which resulted in three runs being scored. This was to be the only home run of his career.