Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangers Box Score on Jun 04, 2021

Kyle Gibson hurled 5 1/3 shutout innings, Joey Gallo homered and scored twice, and the Texas Rangers broke their major-league-high nine-game losing streak Friday night with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Arlington, Texas.

After going 0-9 on its recent road trip, Texas produced a single run in the third and three more in the fourth against Rays starter Josh Fleming (5-4).

The victory was Texas' first since a 3-2 home win over the Houston Astros on May 23.

In his first appearance since May 21, Gibson (4-0) bewildered the Rays in 5 1/3 innings in his return from a groin strain. He allowed five hits -- all singles -- and fanned five without a walk.

Nick Solak went 3-for-4 with a run, and Gallo, Willie Calhoun and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each notched two-hit outings for the Rangers -- winners of four of five meetings with the Rays.

Fleming surrendered five runs and 10 hits over seven innings. The left-hander suffered his second loss to the Rangers, having dropped his first start of 2021 against them on April 14.

Brandon Lowe was 2-for-5 and cracked a two-run homer -- his 10th -- in the eighth, and Yandy Diaz registered two hits.

Calhoun scored on a fielder's choice in the third inning for a 1-0 lead.

Nate Lowe's single, Charlie Culberson's run-scoring sacrifice bunt and Calhoun's lined single built a 4-0 lead in the fourth, but the frame ended with left fielder Austin Meadows throwing out Calhoun at the plate on Kiner-Falefa's single.

Two outs into the fifth, Gallo swatted his 10th homer to center on a 2-2 sinker offered by Fleming.

Playing in the Rangers' park for the first time since Oct. 27 in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, the Rays put runners on the corners in the sixth to chase Gibson, but reliever John King fanned pinch hitter Mike Brosseau and got a flyout from Meadows.

Closer Ian Kennedy yielded a two-out, two-run single to Brett Phillips in the ninth, but he ended the losing streak by fanning Brandon Lowe with a 95-mph high fastball for his 12th save in 13 chances.

--Field Level Media