KANSAS CITY -- Gil Meche gave the Royals the best start they've had from a pitcher since, um, the last time Meche started.
Meche shut out the Tampa Bay Rays for seven innings of the Royals' 4-2 victory over the American League East leaders as 25,900 fans watched on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium. The win snapped a three-game skid.

In six previous games since the All-Star break, Royals starters had been 1-4 with an 8.89 ERA. Only Meche had won in that span, beating Chicago.

The Royals gave Meche an early 4-0 lead.

Three runs off right-hander Matt Garza came in the fourth when Alex Gordon singled, Billy Butler walked, Ross Gload hit a RBI single and John Buck unloaded a two-run double.

Meche dodged trouble in the first and again in the second. From the last out of the second through the seventh, he faced 17 batters and got 16 outs, a model of efficiency.

With that, he was relieved by lefty Ron Mahay. In his seven innings, Meche shut out the Rays on five singles and one walk with four strikeouts.

Along the way he got great help from David DeJesus, who dove into the warning track in the left-field corner to catch Dioner Navarro's line drive in the seventh. DeJesus got four ovations -- one for the moment and one for each of three replays on CrownVision.

The Rays scored in the eighth off Mahay as Jason Bartlett, just off the disabled list, banged his third hit, a double, and moved around to score on two groundouts.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.