It’s no secret that Kumar Rocker likes pitching at Globe Life Field.

Entering play on Saturday, Rocker had posted an ERA of just 2.35 at home this season compared to a 9.91 mark on the road.

On Saturday night at Globe Life Field, Rocker turned in a start that helped those numbers even more.’

Rocker fired 6.1 shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five in a 4-1 Rangers win over the Tigers.

“It’s a credit to him [Rocker] Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after the game. “He went down, knew he had some work to do, and sometimes when that happens, you hope they go down a little ticked off at themselves and just reevaluate what they need to do, and he did that in various aspects of his game. On the pitching side, of course, he had a good cutter going tonight to pair with the good fastball and changeup. He had great pace tonight, holding runners, covering first, things like that. Good for him on how he handled it”.

After tonight’s outing, Rocker is now 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA in five starts at Globe Life Field this season, with the Rangers having won all five.

The Rangers rookie flamethrower wasn’t the only one to make a good impression on the home crowd tonight.

In just his second game with Texas, first baseman Rowdy Tellez blasted a three-run home run in the 2nd, accounting for three of the Rangers four runs.

“He [Tellez] has hit a few off of me,” Bochy said. It’s good to have him on this side. It’s big, the three-run homer, tight ballgame, not a lot of hitting, so good for him. He lives here and that had to be a good feeling for him, here he his with a new club and he comes through to win the ballgame for us”.

Tellez’s 432-foot shot marked the longest homer by a Rangers hitter at Globe Life Field this season and was the longest overall by a Texas left-handed batter.

With the win, the Rangers pulled themselves above .500 for the first time since May 20th as they now sit with a 50-49 record.

Anytime you’re above .500, it feels nice, but to do it in the first series of the second half against the team that finished the first half with the best record in baseball, it’s an added boost.

“It’s good for the confidence, we’ve said if we play our game like we think we can, we can play with anybody, and they’ve shown it,” Bochy explained. If you look at the last couple of weeks, a lot of good things have been happening. We’ve lost some tough ones, but they’re playing hard and playing the game right. We’re getting the pitching, of course, but we’re getting the timely hits now”.