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Cardinals-Royals Preview

Jun 19, 2009 - 5:55 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

St. Louis (36-31) at Kansas City (29-36), 8:10 p.m. EDT

Solid pitching helped the Kansas City Royals get off to a fantastic start on their nine-game interleague homestand last weekend.

Suddenly, those four consecutive wins seem like a distant memory.

The Royals have given up 12 runs in each of their past two games, and they'll hope to avoid allowing a similar offensive surge to the St. Louis Cardinals when the intrastate rivals begin their second three-game set of the season Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City (29-36) gave up six total runs while sweeping three games from Cincinnati and taking the series opener from Arizona on Tuesday.

The Royals' pitching staff, however, has been hammered the past two games. The Diamondbacks pounded out 15 hits in a 12-5 rout on Wednesday, and Thursday's series finale was nearly a carbon copy as Arizona finished with 16 hits - nine for extra bases - in another 12-5 victory.

"One of the biggest concerns for me right now is inefficiency of the bullpen," manager Trey Hillman said of his relievers, who have a 7.24 ERA in their past 17 games. "It hasn't been good."

The Cardinals (36-31) haven't hit particularly well against their Missouri rivals over the past season and a half, averaging 3.6 runs while going 4-5. St. Louis totaled 12 runs when Kansas City visited Busch Stadium last month, but blanked the Royals twice.

Albert Pujols didn't have an RBI in that series, partly because he didn't see many pitches to hit. The Cardinals' slugger went 2 for 6 but was walked seven times - four intentionally.

Hillman certainly has a precedent for his treatment of Pujols. The reigning NL MVP is a .386 career hitter against Kansas City with 11 homers and 40 RBIs in 39 games.

Manager Tony La Russa gave Pujols the day off in Thursday's series finale against the Tigers, though he came on as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and stayed in at first base. Pujols went 0 for 2, and St. Louis couldn't complete a sweep of Detroit, falling 6-3.

The Royals will turn to Kyle Davies (3-6, 5.14 ERA) in hopes of erasing the memories of their back-to-back mound debacles. Davies snapped a personal five-game losing streak in a 7-4 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday.

The right-hander only allowed two hits in five innings, but five walks helped lead to three runs.

"I didn't pitch very well today, but I pitched pretty good in some of those games (during the losing streak) but was just on the short end of the stick," Davies told the Royals' official Web site.

Davies is 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA in three starts against the Cardinals. He gave up two runs and three hits - striking out seven - over six innings on May 22 at St. Louis in Kansas City's 5-1 loss.

Davies has a 7.04 ERA in seven home starts.

St. Louis will hand the ball to Brad Thompson (1-2, 3.60), who's in the rotation for the injured Kyle Lohse after starting the season in the bullpen.

The right-hander's latest outing was by far his best. Thompson allowed three hits and one unearned run over six innings in a 3-1 win at Cleveland on Saturday.

"Brad was outstanding," La Russa said of Thompson, who's 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA in three starts against the Royals. "He likes to compete and enjoys starting. He likes to take charge of a game from the beginning."

The Cardinals have won 13 of 17 in Kansas City.