Martin Perez returned to his early-season form, Adolis Garcia belted his 14th home run of the season and the Texas Rangers pulled away for a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday in Arlington, Texas.

Perez (5-1) allowed two runs on seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over seven innings. That’s the best start this month for Perez, who had given up 11 runs over 8 2/3 innings combined in his first two starts in May. In his six starts over April, Perez had a 2.41 ERA.

The Rangers took control in the middle innings with two runs in the fourth and five in the fifth. Garcia’s opposite-field shot to right after a walk to Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth gave Texas a 2-0 lead. It came against Colorado starter Karl Kauffmann (0-1), who was making his major league debut.

Texas broke it open in the fifth, highlighted by two-run doubles by Corey Seager off Kauffmann and Josh Jung off Colorado reliever Peter Lambert. It was Seager’s first hit since he was activated off the injured list on Wednesday.

Robbie Grossman drove in the other run that inning for the Rangers with an infield single off Lambert.

The Rockies got on the board in the sixth as Elias Diaz had an RBI double and Randal Grichuk had a run-scoring single. Colorado had a chance to do more damage that inning, having runners at second and third with one out, but Perez ended the threat by getting Alan Trejo to line out and Brenton Doyle to strike out.

Perez had a 1-2-3 seventh to close his 104-pitch night. It marked his deepest outing and highest pitch count of the season. The Rangers bullpen, which has been shaky at times this season, got a scoreless inning apiece from Joe Barlow in the eighth and Jose Leclerc in the ninth.

Kauffmann allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. Lambert allowed two runs over 2 2/3 innings, while Fernando Abad worked a scoreless eighth.

The Rangers have won nine of their last 13 games. The Rockies have lost two of their last three.

–Field Level Media