Final
Royals-Blue Jays Preview
Jun 6, 2009 - 5:21 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior WriterKansas City (23-30) at Toronto (30-26), 1:07 p.m. EDT
Considering Kansas City's ace suffered his worst outing of the season in the series opener against the Blue Jays, the Royals could have trouble ending their eight-game losing streak in their remaining contests in Toronto.
Before facing the Blue Jays' top pitcher in the series finale, the Royals are expected to recall Luke Hochevar, who didn't have much success in his first stint of the season with Kansas City, to start Saturday at Rogers Centre.
On Friday, the Royals' Zack Greinke tried to join the Blue Jays' Roy Halladay, Sunday's scheduled starter, as the only nine-game winners in the majors. Instead, Greinke was tagged for a season-high seven runs - five earned - and nine hits in five innings of a 9-3 loss. His major league-leading ERA rose from 1.10 to 1.55.
"I don't think you can expect a pitcher to go out and give you eight innings of shutout baseball," designated hitter Mike Jacobs told Kansas City's official Web site. "(Greinke's) been doing more than what he needs to be doing for this team."
The Royals (23-31) have lost eight straight and are just 5-21 since May 8. They had a three-game lead atop the AL Central on May 7, but have since dropped 5 1/2 games back of the first-place Tigers.
The Royals had only five hits Friday, and are batting .192 while being outscored 58-19 in their last eight.
With Greinke unable to stop the losing streak, the Royals hope Hochevar (0-2, 10.80 ERA) can.
After opening the season with Triple-A Omaha, where he went 5-0 with a 0.90 ERA in six starts, Hochevar was unable to duplicate that success in the majors. In three May starts for Kansas City, the right-hander yielded 15 runs in 11 2-3 innings.
The top overall pick in the 2006 draft returned to the minors after allowing four runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings of a 5-0 loss at St. Louis on May 23.
Hochevar surrendered four runs in eight innings over two starts with Omaha. He went 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts against the Blue Jays last season.
Toronto (31-26) won for the fourth time in seven games Friday after losing its previous nine. Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay hit solo homers off Greinke, who hadn't allowed a home run in 111 innings.
Overbay finished with two hits and three RBIs and is batting .432 (16 for 37) with seven doubles and 11 RBIs during an 11-game hitting streak. He's 7 for 14 with six RBIs in five home games against the Royals since the start of last season.
The Blue Jays have won six straight at home over Kansas City and 16 of 19 meetings there. Scott Richmond (4-2, 3.50) looks to get back in the win column and help Toronto continue that dominance.
After going 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his first five outings, Richmond is 0-2 with a 4.98 ERA in his last four starts. The right-hander hasn't won since beating Baltimore on May 3.
With an off day in Toronto's schedule last week, Richmond's turn in the rotation was skipped. He pitched two scoreless innings of relief in an 8-2 loss to Boston on Sunday.
On April 28 at Kansas City, Richmond allowed one run and five hits in seven innings of an 8-1 victory.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
KANSAS CITY 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 6 9 1
TORONTO 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: KAN - LUKE HOCHEVAR, KYLE FARNSWORTH (7TH), JOAKIM SORIA (9TH) AND
BRAYAN PENA, MIGUEL OLIVO (9TH)
TOR - SCOTT RICHMOND, SHAWN CAMP (5TH), JESSE CARLSON
(8TH), B.J
Jun 6 3:39 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARK TEAHEN SCORED BILLY BUTLER.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M TEAHEN ON FIRST, M JACOBS ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 6
TORONTO 2 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: A CALLASPO (.293, 1-FOR-3)
Royals 6, Blue Jays 2 Top 8, 0 OutsJun 6 3:17 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
TRIPLE BY WILLIE BLOOMQUIST SCORED ALBERTO CALLASPO, MITCH
MAIER AND DAVID DEJESUS.
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, W BLOOMQUIST ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 5
TORONTO 2 TOP, 5TH
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: B BUTLER (.279, 0-FOR-2)
Royals 5, Blue Jays 2 Top 5, 0 OutsJun 6 2:18 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY MARK TEAHEN (7) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 1
OUT IN THE 5TH OFF SCOTT RICHMOND SCORED JOSE GUILLEN.
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 2, TORONTO 2
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: A CALLASPO (.291, 0-FOR-1)
Royals 2, Blue Jays 2 Top 5, 0 OutsJun 6 2:07 PM - AL
AT TORONTO - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY RAUL CHAVEZ (1) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 3RD OFF LUKE HOCHEVAR SCORED LYLE OVERBAY.
CURRENT SCORE: KANSAS CITY 0, TORONTO 2
DUE UP FOR TORONTO: J MCDONALD (.211, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Royals 0, Blue Jays 2 Bot 3, 0 OutsJun 6 1:42 PM
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