Kansas City, Mo. ? Royals manager Buddy Bell has seen a lot during a dismal first part of the season for Kansas City. He didn’t know what to make of this one.

David DeJesus drove in four runs, Matt Stairs hit a three-run homer and Kansas City made up a seven-run deficit in a 16-12 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday night.

DeJesus finished 3-for-5 and scored three runs, and Mark Teahen went 4-for-4 for the Royals, who snapped a nine-game home losing streak. Every player in Kansas City’s starting lineup had at least one hit and scored at least one run.

“I have a tough time figuring this one out,” Bell said. “That was some kind of effort. After going ahead 4-0 and then 11-4 down and battling back, especially after not getting it back all at once, we just kept pecking away at it.”

Ian Kinsler hit a three-run homer and a sacrifice fly in the Rangers’ eight-run third inning. Mark DeRosa and Gary Matthews Jr. each had three hits and two RBIs for Texas.

The Rangers led 11-4 before Kansas City scored four runs in the bottom half of the third. The Royals scored single runs in the fourth and fifth before pushing across six in the seventh inning to take a 16-11 lead.

The Kansas City Royals' David Dejesus (9) celebrates with teammate John Buck after they scored. The Royals defeated the Rangers, 16-12, Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City improved its major league-worst record to 15-43.

“You win some games that look pretty bleak, and you lose some you think you’ve got a pretty good chance to win,” Texas manager Buck Showalter said. “In between, we’ve done a pretty good job.”

DeJesus hit an RBI single, Doug Mientkiewicz added a two-run double and Stairs capped the big seventh inning with his fifth homer of the season to put Kansas City in front by five.

“Matty got a huge hit for us,” Bell said. “Of course David and Dougie did as well. We’ve never had a problem with effort. We just haven’t been able to get the big hits like we did tonight.”

Both teams batted around in the third, which lasted 50 minutes. The teams combined for 22 batters, 13 hits and 12 runs in the inning. The teams combined for 23 hits in the first three innings, the most in the major leagues since Philadelphia and the Chicago Cubs combined for 24 on May 17, 1979.