PITTSBURGH — Texas Rangers right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker pitched into the sixth inning on a hot, humid Pennsylvania day and did not need to pause play to chug pickle juice and attend to cramps.

“I pre-gamed it,” Rocker said, “so it was good.”

Consider it a lesson learned.

That’s been the theme of late.

Rocker allowed two runs on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings in a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday at PNC Park. He has a 1.74 ERA in two big league starts since the Rangers optioned him to the minor leagues with an improvement plan and a directive to fine-tune the so-called little things that a pitcher must do to succeed.

“Maybe he had a come-to-Jesus meeting with himself when he went down,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I can’t answer that.”

Rocker can.

“You take it like a punch in the gut and try to bounce back from it,” Rocker said of his week-and-a-half long demotion. “A perspective change goes a long way. You try to keep learning.”

The Rangers optioned Rocker to Triple-A Round Rock after a meltdown start against the Tampa Bay Rays in which he didn’t mix his pitches well, failed to cover first base and was slowed by mental errors. His minor league assignment was, more than anything, an effort to improve Rocker’s focus and intensity with the hope that it’d serve as a wake-up call for the former top-five draft selection.

“I wasn’t doing my job,” Rocker said. “I wasn’t doing anything to help the team and there wasn’t any reason for me to be up here.”

Rocker returned out of necessity after the Rangers place Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list with right elbow inflammation and has made the necessary changes. The 25-year-old leaned on his slider Saturday, and threw it 36 times, but he used four-seam fastball (18 times), sinker (17 times) and curveball (12 times) to look less predictable on the mound.

He looked better with runners on base and was able to pitch a scoreless first inning after the first two Pirates batters reached on singles. The Pirates stole two bases against him, though Bochy thought that Rocker did a better job at slide-stepping to hold them, and he showed greater hustle to back up bases defensively.

“He’s come back up with a different look about him, that’s what I like,” Bochy said. “It shows you about his makeup. He knows he has to get better at [the little things] and he did.”

Texas managed just four hits, but it made the most of them as the Rangers earned a road win over Pittsburgh. Corey Seager hit the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning.

Kumar Rocker (3-4) gave up all five Pirates hits as he teamed with three relievers to give Pittsburgh its sixth loss in its last seven games. The two-time first-round draft pick threw 5 1/3 innings giving up two runs, five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Pirates starter Mitch Keller (1-10) saw his hard luck season continue. He allowed just a hit, a walk and an unearned run through his first five innings before the Rangers scored twice on him in the sixth.

FRIDAY

RANGERS 6, PIRATES 2

Adolis Garcia had three hits, including a home run and two RBI and made two great diving catches in right field to help the Texas Rangers beat the host Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Friday night.

Garcia went 3-for-4 and his efforts backed up a strong outing by starter Jacob deGrom (7-2), who pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven on 84 pitches.

The Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Pirates their fifth loss in their past six games.

Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim each had two hits for Texas while Corey Seager hit his seventh home run of the season and first since returning from the injured list on May 28th.

Joey Bart led Pittsburgh with three hits and an RBI and Nick Gonzales also had two hits.

The Pirates mustered nine hits overall, but all were singles.

The Rangers struck immediately in the first inning against Pirates rookie starter Mike Burrows (1-2) when Josh Smith and Sam Haggerty opened the game with back-to-back singles. On Haggerty’s liner to center field, the ball bounced off Oneil Cruz resulting in a costly error that allowed Smith to score. Haggerty then scored on a wild pitch.

Burrows gave up four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four over 4 2/3 innings.

Garcia’s ninth homer of the season in the fourth inning pushed the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.

Pittsburgh answered with four singles and a walk — all with two outs — off deGrom. Adam Frazier’s single scored Spencer Horwitz to cut the deficit to 3-2. deGrom struck out Alexander Canario to end the inning.

Seager’s solo home run in the fifth pushed the Rangers’ lead to 4-2 and added another in the seventh when Semien tripled and Garcia followed with a double.

Pirates reliever Ryan Borucki appeared to suffer an injury during his appearance in the top of the ninth inning. Borucki exited after facing four batters following a slight stumble as he finished his delivery on a pitch to Evan Carter. Borucki remained in the game, but then was removed after walking Carter to load the bases.

Josh Jung drove in Texas’ sixth run on a ground out to first off Caleb Ferguson.