Coming off a frustrating, mistake-filled loss the night before, the Rangers turned to a pitcher who has some experience at restoring a team's mojo.
Only this time, Yovani Gallardo also turned around a negative trend for him-self in a 5-3 win over Kansas City.
Gallardo gave up just two runs to the American League champions in seven innings of work.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Gallardo. After getting just two runs of support during that streak, Gallardo pitched effectively with a lead. He walked just one batter in a game that took just two hours, 15 minutes.
"It happens," Gallardo said of his recent run of hard luck. "It's not the first time that it's happened to me. I can't control that, and I think that's one of the things that I've learned. All I can do is go out there and hit the glove."
After blundering trough a one-run loss in 10 innings the night before, the Rangers seemed to rally around the calm, efficient performance of the veteran Gallardo.
"He's been there before," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "This is a guy that in Milwaukee, they looked to to right the ship from time to time. This guy's pitched in big games for them. He knows how to pitch."
The Rangers posted a 2-0 lead in the first after Shin-Soo Choo hit his second leadoff homer in as many games. Elvis Andrus followed with a walk and scored after back-to-back singles by Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre.
Fielder hit a two-run homer in the second inning for a 4-0 lead. That was all the cushion needed for Gallardo, who hadn't seen much cushion lately.
"It felt good," Gallardo said. "Like I've always said, the guys are going to hit. It's a matter of time and they're showing it."
Choo became the fourth Ranger to hit back-to-back leadoff homers, joining Mike Hargrove (1977), Oddibe McDowell (1985) and Ian Kinsler (2011).
After a horrendous April, Choo collected two more hits Wednesday to stretch his hitting streak to 13 games.
"You see the confidence grow every night," Banister said. "It's how he gets in the box, it's what he looks like. You see that in the swings. He's letting the swing go. He's finding a pitch in his lane that he likes to hit and he's putting a barrel on it."
Fielder had a three-hit night while Mitch Moreland, in his first game back since elbow surgery, collected two hits and a walk.
Ninth hitter Delino DeShields had another impressive night starting in place of Leonys Martin, who continues to to be bothered by a sore wrist.
DeShields was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and was a homer away from hit-ting for the cycle. The speedy DeShields tripled easily on a ball hit to the left-center gap in the fourth. He scored on a Choo ground-out to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead.
"Delino has been really a nice player and a young player that has stepped up in the absence of Leonys and is really putting some veteran-looking AB's together," Banister said.
Gallardo gave up two runs in the seventh when he faced the middle of the Royals' order. He gave up a pair of run-scoring doubles to Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez, but was able to finish the inning.
Gallardo getting through seven kept the ball in the hands of the Rangers' most trusted bullpen pieces. Setup man Shawn Tolleson pitched a perfect eighth inning and closer Neftali Feliz put down the Royals' 3, 4 and 5 hitters in order for his sixth save.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
