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Diamondbacks-Royals Preview

Jun 17, 2009 - 4:53 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Arizona (27-37) at Kansas City (28-34), 8:10 p.m. EDT

Compared to the way he started the season, Kansas City's Zack Greinke is in the midst of his first true rough stretch of 2009.

The right-hander looks for his first win in three weeks while trying to help the Royals to a fifth consecutive victory Wednesday night against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

Greinke (8-2, 1.72 ERA) allowed three runs and six hits while striking out six and matching a season high with three walks in 7 1-3 innings of a 4-3, 10-inning loss at Cleveland on Thursday.

"You've got to finish," Greinke told the Royals' official Web site.

Though Greinke did leave that outing with a 3-1 lead, he is 0-1 with a 5.12 ERA in his last three starts since beating Detroit 6-1 on May 26. Greinke, who still has the lowest ERA in the majors, went 8-1 with a 0.84 ERA in his first 10 outings.

Greinke is 0-0 with an 8.74 ERA in two starts against the Diamondbacks. He allowed three hits in seven shutout innings against them last season after giving up a franchise-record 11 runs versus Arizona in 2005.

Coming off a three-game sweep of Cincinnati, Kansas City (29-34) improved to 4-0 on its nine-game homestand after beating Arizona 5-0 on Tuesday. The Royals have also won 16 of their last 21 interleague contests.

"Any time we win games and put 'em together, we've turned a corner in comparison to what it was the previous five weeks," said Royals manager Trey Hillman, whose club is 6-3 after suffering through a season-high eight-game losing streak.

Mark Teahen had three hits with an RBI and Gil Meche threw a four-hitter Tuesday for the Royals, who have outscored the Reds and Diamondbacks 23-6 in their last four games.

Teahen has recorded three hits in each of his last two games and is batting .448 (13 for 29) with six RBIs in his last nine. He is 10 for 29 (.345) with three RBIs in six games versus Arizona.

Max Scherzer (3-4, 3.63) looks for another strong start as the Diamondbacks (27-38) try to avoid matching a season high with a fourth straight defeat.

After allowing three hits and striking out six in five scoreless innings at San Diego on June 6, Scherzer gave up three hits over 7 2-3 scoreless frames in a 2-1 win versus San Francisco on Thursday.

"I think we're seeing the maturation of a good major league pitcher," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said of Scherzer, who is 3-1 in his last six starts. "When he's under control and in the strike zone, he's a difficult guy to face."

The right-hander, who attended the University of Missouri, will face Kansas City for the first time.

Mark Reynolds singled Tuesday and is 8 for 15 (.533) with eight RBIs in his last four games for Arizona, which has been outscored 19-7 during its three-game skid and has lost six of eight.