Yovani Gallardo struggled a bit early in his debut season with his hometown Texas Rangers, but as of late, he's begun to pitch like the guy the Rangers traded for back in the winter to help fortify a pitching staff that ended up being decimated even more before the season even got going.
Gallardo's inducing grounders again, which is the type of pitcher Gallardo became his last few years in Milwaukee, making the shift from a heavy strikeout guy to a guy who pitches to contact. And recently, he's posted a groundball rate of more than 50 percent.
When he takes the hill Thursday night in the rubber game of a series against the White Sox, he'll be looking to build upon a solid stretch of starts to give the Rangers their second home series win of the year — their second in a row.
Gallardo is 5-6 this year with a 3.88 ERA, which is just a slight tick above his ERA from the National League in recent years, making him a rare case of a guy who comes to the AL from the NL and doesn't see much dropoff.
He's coming off two straight quality starts against the Yankees and Red Sox — both wins — and now he'll look to keep the streak rolling against the White Sox.
