Shin-Soo Choo and Alex Rios homered in the sixth inning against winless Hector Santiago, and the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 Friday night to end a four-game losing streak.
Choo added an RBI single in the seventh and Colby Lewis (2-1) pitched 5 2-3 innings, allowing two runs and seven hits while striking out six. The right-hander, making his fourth start after missing 1 1/2 seasons because of operations on his elbow and hip, was lifted after giving up his only walk.
It was the fourth straight game in which a Rangers starter failed to get through the sixth. Lewis was working on an extra day of rest after the rotation was set up to have him avoid next week's interleague series in Colorado.
Joakim Soria, the sixth Rangers pitcher, worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save. Choo left in the seventh because of soreness in his left ankle.
Santiago (0-5) was charged with five runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. The left-hander, who has a 5.01 ERA in six starts, was replaced by Kevin Jepsen with a 3-2 deficit. Choo then singled home Leonys Martin, and Michael Choice crossed the plate with the Rangers' fifth run as third baseman Ian Stewart fielded Elvis Andrus' grounder and hit Choice with his throw home.
Angels third baseman David Freese left with bruised middle finger on his right hand after getting hit by an 0-2 pitch in the third. The 2011 World Series MVP, acquired in a November trade with St. Louis, is batting .202 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 84 at-bats.
Texas was trailing 2-0 when Choo drove Santiago's first pitch of the sixth just beyond the reach of center fielder Mike Trout to end a six-game home run drought by the Rangers -- who hit 26 against the Angels last year while winning the season series 15-4 over their NL West rivals.
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Two outs later, Prince Fielder reached on an infield single and Rios sent a 2-1 pitch into the rock pile in left-center for his second of the season.
The only other time this season that the Rangers had two home runs in one inning was April 15, when Fielder and Kevin Kouzmanoff went back-to-back to start the second against Seattle's Blake Beavan in a 5-0 win at Arlington.
Angels No. 9 hitter J.B. Shuck, fighting a 2-for-30 slump, drove in the game's first run with a two-out bunt single that hugged the third base line all the way to the bag. Howie Kendrick made it 2-0 in the fourth with an RBI single after Shuck singled with two outs and stole second.
NOTES: Kouzmanoff, who hasn't played since April 22 because of a herniated disk in his lower back, is scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday. ... Texas C Robinson Chirinos was scratched about 90 minutes before the game because of a stomach virus. ... Greg Maddux, a special assistant to Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, is with the club for this series after making the trip from his Las Vegas home. After a three-game sweep by Oakland in which older brother Mike's pitching staff gave up 25 runs and increased the team ERA to 4.28, it couldn't hurt. "I don't think I have to suggest anything for him to talk to them about, but I can guarantee you they will be flocking to him without him even saying anything," manager Ron Washington said of the four-time NL Cy Young Award winner, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27. "He's got free rein to say whatever he thinks, according to what they tell him." ... Andrus, the only Rangers player to start at the same position in all 29 games, had a private meeting with Washington about his slump. "Elvis plays with a lot of energy, but lately he hasn't been playing with that energy. So I just felt the need to have a one-on-one, that's all," Washington said. "If he's focused on what he's supposed to be doing, then the energy part will be there. That's all I want to see, regardless of how he's doing, because it's contagious. If he does, I think things will fall into place. I also think that he knows that we're hurt and maybe he's trying to do too much. So we've got to get him to just be Elvis. And if we can do that, I think you'll see a change."
