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Royals-Twins Preview

Apr 15, 2010 - 10:25 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (4-5) at Minnesota (6-3), 8:10 p.m. EDT

The Minnesota Twins somehow didn't face Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke until Sept. 27 last year. They won't have the luxury of waiting nearly that long in 2010.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner will take the mound Friday night when these Central rivals meet for the first time at Target Field in the opener of a three-game series.

Kansas City (4-5) was the last team to visit the Metrodome for a series in the regular season, getting swept as Minnesota (7-3) forced a one-game playoff for the division title with Detroit. Greinke (0-1, 3.55 ERA) did not receive a decision in the middle game of that set, six days after he beat the Twins at home in his first start against them.

Greinke won his first six starts in 2009, but is still in search of his first win this season. He gave up four runs over 6 2-3 innings Saturday in an 8-3 loss to Boston.

The right-hander may be happy to be pitching outdoors against the Twins. The Royals lost all four of his starts at the Metrodome, with Greinke going 0-2 with a 3.65 ERA.

Reigning AL MVP Joe Mauer is 6 for 27 in his career against Greinke and Justin Morneau is 4 for 24.

Greinke isn't the only challenge Kansas City currently presents. Jose Guillen homered for the fourth straight game in Wednesday's 7-3 win at Detroit, and he's 9 for 17 with eight RBIs during that stretch.

"The streak he is on is unbelievable," first baseman Billy Butler said. "Guys are trying to do different things against him, and he's still getting the same result."

Guillen is 4 for 17 against Twins starter Scott Baker (1-1, 3.86) and Butler is much worse at 1 for 22.

Those numbers are part of the reason why Baker is 7-1 with a 2.82 ERA over his last nine starts against the Royals.

The right-hander earned his first victory Saturday, yielding one run over seven innings in a 2-1 win over the White Sox.

The Twins went 12-6 against the Royals last season, including 5-4 at the Metrodome. Minnesota won two of three in the first series in its new home after an 8-0 victory over Boston on Thursday.

Morneau had three hits and Michael Cuddyer added three RBIs as Mauer was the only Twin in the starting lineup not to have one of the club's 15 hits.

"These guys believe in themselves, and they're trying to go out and prove it on the field," manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Mauer hit .415 with 13 RBIs against the Royals last year while Cuddyer batted .294 with eight homers and 19 RBIs.

Kansas City earned its first series victory by taking two of three against Detroit to start this nine-game trip. Butler had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning Wednesday.

"That was a very resilient performance," manager Trey Hillman said. "Call it resilient, call it scrappy, call it whatever word you want - I'll take it."