ARLINGTON, Texas _ Delino DeShields came off the disabled list less than three weeks after surgery on his left hand, just as he proclaimed he would, giving the Rangers their leadoff hitter and best center fielder.
His glove was bigger than his bat in his first game since March 30, as he jumped at the wall to rob Seattle Mariners catcher David Freitas of at least an RBI double and maybe two-run homer.
"Actually, I don't even know if I robbed it," DeShields said. "But it was up there. It was at least the top of the wall."
Either way, and even if DeShields hadn't caught the high drive, the Rangers were a better team for the finale against the Seattle Mariners. But the area where they needed the most improvement was in the middle of the diamond from left-hander Martin Perez.
Thanks in part to DeShields, not to mention the pitching coaches and Perez himself, he did.
Perez allowed two runs in six innings for what easily rates as his best start of the season, and Nomar Marzara and Joey Gallo connected for home runs as the Rangers beat the Mariners 7-4 to avoid a three-game weekend sweep.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa delivered a key two-out single in the eighth to give closer Keone Kela a three-run cushion in the ninth, and he stranded runners at second and third with no outs.
It was nice win in which several players made contributions. But Perez's effort, coming off back-to-back starts in which he allowed eight runs apiece, was the biggest.
"I was aggressive every time," Perez said. "I attacked the zone early, and my two-seam was working today. I felt good. I'm comfortable with the changes with my hands, and it gives me a chance to compete and give my team a chance to win every time I go out there."
Manager Jeff Banister said that Perez was not pitching to keep his spot in the rotation with Doug Fister (strained right hip) expected to come off the DL on Wednesday. Perez has "some equity with us," Banister said.
But Perez seemed determined Saturday when talking to the media ahead of the start and in small talk in the clubhouse Sunday. He came out and rattled off a 1-2-3 inning on seven pitches in the first, his first perfect inning of the season, and escaped a bases-loaded no-outs jam in the second.
He took a shutout into the fifth and quickly recovered after the Mariners scored two quick runs on a triple, single and double to start the inning. DeShields' catch in the sixth came after a leadoff walk to Ichiro Suzuki.
Perez can be better and has been better. He's always better when he's confident. The mechanical changes he made after his last start to help give hitters less opportunity to see which pitch is coming, plus a move to the third-base side of the rubber, left him feeling he would compete and will do so going forward.
"Everything starts in the mind," Perez said. "If you're not ready in your mind, you can't go out there and compete. You can't think negative things. If things aren't going good, you have to stay positive."
The Rangers scored the game's first four runs, the final three coming on fourth-inning homers by Mazara and Gallo (two-run shot). They countered the Mariners' two-run fifth with a single run in the sixth on a two-out infield single by Shin-Soo Choo.
The tally was made possible by catcher Juan Centeno taking third as on a Kyle Seager throw to first.
The Mariners closed to 5-4 after scoring twice in the seventh against Matt Bush, but Kiner-Falefa erased that with a bases-loaded single in the eighth.
