Rangers Beat Royals

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Run support recently for Yovani Gallardo was much like rain to a desert.

None.

But the Texas Rangers right-hander got some help on Wednesday night and not surprisingly his fortunes changed.

Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo and designated hitter Prince Fielder each had a home run and two RBIs in the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Choo was 2-for-4 with a home run to lead off the game and Fielder’s two-run homer in the second provided a cushion for Gallardo, who had received two runs of support in 23 innings of his four-game losing streak.

Gallardo (3-5) gave up two runs, six hits and a walk and struck out two in seven innings.

Right-handed reliever Shawn Tolleson worked the eighth and right-handed closer Neftali Feliz pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.

“The guys are going to hit,” said Gallardo, whose teammates are among the league leaders this month in walks, doubles, home runs and runs. “It’s only a matter of time and they’ve been showing it.”

Lack of run support is “not the first time it’s happened to me. I can’t control

that. The only thing I can do is hit the glove and command my pitches.”

The losing streak matched Gallardo’s career long. In his three victories this season, he has allowed two runs or less. The start also was his third straight quality start at home.

Center fielder DeLino DeShields, in for injured Leonys Martin, was 3-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored. Third baseman Adrian Beltre also had a run-scoring hit for Texas (15-19), which, with eight victories in May, eclipsed its total in the opening month of the season.

Kansas City (21-13) fell for a second time on its four-game trip to Texas in a brisk two-hour, 15-minute game.

Yordano Ventura (2-3), making his second start since coming back from a suspension imposed because of his part in a brawl with the Chicago White Sox, suffered the loss.

The Royals right-hander worked seven innings, giving up five runs, 10 hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Ventura retired nine of the final 10 hitters he faced.

He threw six straight fastballs to Choo, a good fastball hitter, to lead off the game, and hung a curveball to Fielder, who hit it 423 feet to center field in the second.

“He gave us seven strong innings. He made two mistakes,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez “called for a breaking ball, he shook him off. It’s always the pitcher’s choice. He had confidence in his fastball. Six in a row to a good fastball hitter is quite a few.”

The Rangers own the third-best record in the American League in May in large part because of a starting rotation that has the league’s best ERA this month at 2.63.

Kansas City was able to touch Gallardo in the seventh for two runs on a single and RBI doubles from designated hitter Kendrys Morales and Perez.

“I made pitches. I moved the ball around and got some plays made behind me,” Gallardo said. “I left some pitches up in the strike zone and got into some trouble.”

The Rangers put up two runs in each of the first two innings, though they probably felt shortchanged in the first.

Choo hit a leadoff home run, Beltre added an RBI single, and the Rangers still had the bases loaded with no outs. Ventura, though, struck out left fielder Carlos Peguero and catcher Robinson Chirinos, and second baseman Thomas Field lined out to end the threat.

In the second, Texas DeShields Jr. hit a leadoff single and scored on Fielder’s two-out blast.

“He did a good job of limiting the damage” in the first, Yost said. “And he had an opportunity to get out of (the second) and hung a curveball to Prince Fielder, who hit it a long way.

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