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Royals-Orioles Preview

Jul 28, 2009 - 4:18 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (38-59) at Baltimore (42-55), 7:05 p.m. EDT

It's been three weeks since Brian Bannister won a game for the Kansas City Royals. If his only previous appearance against the Baltimore Orioles was any indication, that could change in his next outing.

The right-hander again looks to get back in the win the column while trying to help the Royals to a second straight road win over the Orioles on Tuesday night in this matchup of last-place teams.

Despite his record, Bannister (6-7, 3.76 ERA) has the second-best ERA and is tied for second in wins among Kansas City starters. He's also consistently pitched well enough to keep the Royals (39-59) in games despite their last-place position in the AL Central.

In his last start, Bannister gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings, but the bullpen allowed five runs in the eighth and Kansas City lost 9-6 to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

"We had a chance to win and I really wanted to end (it)," Bannister told the Royals' official Web site of his winless stretch.

While Bannister is 0-1 with a 3.26 ERA in three outings since beating the Chicago White Sox on July 5, he allowed two hits over eight innings in a 4-0 win over Baltimore on May 11, 2008.

Another strong effort by Bannister in this contest and the Royals have a chance to win consecutive contests for the first time since taking three in a row from July 4-6.

In Monday's series opener, Billy Butler had a career-high five hits with three RBIs in Kansas City's 5-3 win for its second victory in three games after losing a season-high 10 in a row.

"Relief," Royals' Mark Teahen told the teams' official Web site of their recent improvement, "will come when we start playing better baseball."

Though Butler had three hits in his previous six games, he's 10 for 23 (.435) with eight RBIs in five games versus the Orioles (42-56) this season.

Butler and the Royals get their first look at Baltimore rookie Jason Berken (1-8, 6.55), who has not won since making his debut on May 26.

The right-hander allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings of a 6-4 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

"Obviously, losing eight straight (decisions) isn't fun," Berken told the Orioles' official Web site. "But for me, the biggest thing is just to try to find ways to get better, find ways to be more consistent. Obviously, I wish my win-loss record was a lot better, but I think I need to focus on things aside from that I need to do to get better."

All-Star Adam Jones homered and drove in two runs Monday for the Orioles, who are averaging three runs while losing six of their last seven contests.

Though Jones is batting .298 with a career-high 15 homers this season, he's 2 for 17 in his last four games.

Baltimore rookie Nolan Reimold has four straight multi-hit games, going 9 for 13 with three doubles in that span to raise his average from .259 to .287.