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Royals-Mariners Preview

Aug 28, 2009 - 6:41 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (49-78) at Seattle (66-62), 10:10 p.m. EDT

A rare poor pitching effort from the Seattle Mariners doomed their chances of winning four straight. The Kansas City Royals, meanwhile, are getting bad outings from Brian Bannister much more often then they'd prefer.

After struggling against the light-hitting Royals in the opener of a four-game series, the Mariners look to bounce back against Bannister on Friday night.

Seattle (66-62) has been able to rebound from a 101-loss season thanks in large part to its strong pitching. The Mariners rank seventh in the majors with a 3.93 ERA.

Kansas City (49-78), 25th in the majors with 520 runs scored and mired in last place in the AL Central, didn't figure to give Seattle much trouble. The Royals, though, put together an unexpected power surge Thursday night, beating the Mariners 8-4.

Coming off seven losses in eight games, Kansas City hit four homers for the first time since May 23, 2007, against Cleveland. The Royals had gone deep only twice in their previous five contests before Yuniesky Betancourt, Brayan Pena, Alberto Callaspo and David DeJesus all homered Thursday.

Betancourt, who was traded by Seattle to Kansas City on July 10, connected in his first game back at Safeco Field, giving him three home runs in 131 at-bats since joining the Royals. He homered twice in 224 at-bats with the Mariners

"I'm not going to lie to you, it's different," Betancourt said of playing in Seattle as a visitor. "It's a lot of emotions going on. But I understand it's my job. I have to go out there and compete and do my best."

The shortstop, who started his career with the Mariners in 2005, had two hits after going 1 for 13 in his previous six road games.

Seattle, which lost for the first time in four contests, has a good chance for its own big game at the plate Friday as it faces Bannister (7-10, 4.50 ERA).

The right-hander is 0-3 with a 9.39 ERA in his last four starts overall, and has surrendered seven runs in each of his last two road outings. He gave up four runs in six innings of Kansas City's 10-3 home loss to Minnesota on Sunday.

Bannister is 1-3 with a 3.71 ERA in four starts against the Mariners, but got two runs or fewer to work with in each of those contests.

He may not have to face Mariners leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki, who has missed four straight games with tightness in his left calf. Suzuki, 16 hits shy of his record ninth straight 200-hit season, is batting .448 in his last 38 games against the Royals.

"Still no time frame on his return," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre (contused right testicle), meanwhile, was scheduled to come off the disabled list Friday but Wakamatsu said he's not ready.

Seattle pitchers would certainly like the support of Suzuki and Beltre, who have a combined 10 Gold Glove awards between them.

Felix Hernandez (12-5, 2.73), set to take the mound Friday for the Mariners, was victimized by second baseman Jose Lopez's throwing error in his last start. Three of Hernandez's six runs were unearned, and he suffered his first loss since July 27 after pitching six innings in Seattle's 6-1 defeat to Cleveland on Sunday.

The right-hander is 2-1 with a 2.73 ERA in four starts versus the Royals.