Texas Rangers: Game changer: Joey Gallo has three points for the first round of the round while the Rangers are angry against Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Rangers have played a week of games and yes, as you can imagine, Joey Gallo is averaging a setback per game.

Here's what you probably did not expect though:

He has more steps (eight) than pensions (seven). He has more points produced (eight) than the games played. And he changes games regularly.

On Thursday, the Rangers started their road calendar for the season. Four strikers in the game with the Los Angeles Angels, Gallo delivered a three-point homerun. The Rangers led by five before the end of the first run won an 11-4 win against a team of Angels who has the best player in the game and who does not want much else.

The Rangers, meanwhile, went to 5-2. It's remarkable for this reason: they spent exactly one day in the last two seasons, up to three games above .500. Although starter Edinson Volquez again struggled to control, Gallo and Ronald Guzman's first-run heats and a double Shin-Soo Choo bloop in fifth kept the Angels at bay.

"This first week went well," said Gallo, who has a .978 OPS record in the first seven games. "It went well personally, but also for the team.We do things that people really did not think we could do.We knew we were, but a lot of people did not. have not done. "

Gallo was one of the main reasons for the hot start. In four of the Rangers' five wins, he had either the shot that gave the Rangers the advantage or the goal that represented victory. On Thursday, his three-point homer, just four in the game, put the Angels pitcher, Matt Harvey, under tremendous pressure at the start. He never recovered.

"He is one of the most talented players in the game," said Chris Woodward, the Rangers coach. "Sometimes he does not even have to swing the bat to change his game."

That's what Gallo can do. It can change all the complexion of a party.

He did so by refusing to continue the ground above the belt, which was a temptation so dangerous for him from the moment he arrived in the major leagues. Because of this, he put himself in accounts more favorable to the batters. And he apparently recognized that these accounts are only good if he takes everything the thrower provides.

Often, what has been offered is a free base in the form of a walk. He accepts them more coherently. His march on Thursday gave him eight for the season, including six in the last three games.

"I can not let the pitcher dictate my bats," said Gallo. "I know I'm swaying and missing a lot, but I do not miss a lot when I'm swinging in my area, I never really thought about work in the past, it meant to give me an advantage." J & # 39; have always tried to do things myself. "

It is easy to see the discipline of the plate appear with the greatest frequency of walking. But it's not just about taking land. The homer Thursday arrived on the first pitch that he saw from Harvey, a fastball in the center.

"If a team launches strikes, we should be ready to hit," Woodward said.

Gallo said: "If they throw strikes, I will try to hit in. I do not try to take in. I try to make smart decisions."

For the first week of the season, he did it.

And largely because of this, the Rangers are somewhere that they have only seen for a day in the last two years.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant