Gallo's bat, arm help Rangers edge D-backs 5-4 to end skid

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — All-Star slugger Joey Gallo hit his first home run since the break, a towering three-run shot to put Texas ahead, and also had two assists from right field as the Rangers ended a 12-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.

Dane Dunning (4-7) allowed two runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked two while earning only his second win in his last 12 starts.

Ian Kennedy, who like Gallo could potentially be traded before Friday's deadline, pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 16th save in 17 opportunities — and first since July 9. The D-backs had scored twice in the eighth, when they also left runners on first and third.

Gallo launched a 1-0 fastball off the batter’s eye beyond center field in the fourth inning off Taylor Widener (1-1), two batters after David Dahl’s ground-rule double tied the score 2-2. Before his 25th homer of the season, Gallo had gone 2 for 32 with no RBIs and 18 strikeouts since participating in the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby two weeks ago.

Widener survived trouble in the first three innings, with Texas going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and leaving six on base before chasing him in the fourth. Widener gave up all five runs on five hits, five walks and a hit batter.

Gallo, a 2020 Gold Glove winner, threw out Kole Calhoun trying to stretch a single into a double leading off the game. Gallo began a fourth-inning play that caught Asdrubal Cabrera between second and third.

The Texas losing streak began July 10, two games before the All-Star break and continued through a 10-game road trip that ended Sunday. It tied for the second longest skid in Rangers history.

The five-run fourth gave Texas a lead after a completed inning for the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Gallo-s-bat-arm-help-Rangers-edge-D-backs-5-4-to-16344711.php