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Bannister helps Royals end seven-game skid

Jun 2, 2007 - 3:50 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals finally broke through on a number of fronts against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Brian Bannister worked eight solid innings as the Royals snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Devils Rays on Friday.

Kansas City also snapped a seven-game skid here, winning at Tropicana Field for the first time September 22, 2004.

"It was a nice win for us," Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said. "It got a little spooky at the end."

The unlikely catalyst was Bannister (1-3), who not only won his first game of the season but earned his first victory since April 16, 2006, when he was with the New York Mets.

The 26-year-old righthander's only mistake was giving up a leadoff home run to Greg Norton in the fifth inning that sliced the lead to 3-1.

Bannister, who was acquired from the Mets in the offseason, bounced back in style, retiring the next 12 batters. He allowed just two hits and the one run, did not walk a batter and struck out a career-high six.

"Besides winning my first game, this feels good," Bannister said. "I want to put it in my back pocket and keep it in mind for future games. Just to get into the eighth inning has been a positive for me. It has been one of my goals."

Octavio Dotel overcame two walks to the first two batters in the ninth to get his first save of the season.

The Royals jumped on Devil Rays lefthander Scott Kazmir (3-3) for three runs in the top of the second inning.

Mike Sweeney ignited the uprising with a leadoff triple - just the fifth of his 13-year career - and scored on a wild by by Kazmir.

Emil Brown walked, stole second, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on Tony Pena Jr.'s two-out infield single that extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

Back-to-back singles by Jason LaRue and Esteban German plated Pena to make it 3-0.

"We didn't come out to play today," Kazmir said. "Not to take anything away from Bannister, but we're better than that."

Kazmir settled down thereafter but remained in a funk at Tropicana Field, falling to 0-3 in his last 11 home starts despite an ERA under 3.00. He allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one.

"He had one bad inning," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said of Kazmir. "His numbers on the board were good. I thought his fastball command got better as the game progressed."

The Royals added an insurance run in the eighth off reliever Brian Stokes. Mark Teahen led off with a single to center, moved around on a wild pitch and grounder and scored on Brown's double to center that was badly misplayed by rookie Elijah Dukes for a 4-1 advantage.