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Royals-Blue Jays Preview

Apr 20, 2010 - 4:00 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Kansas City (5-7) at Toronto (7-6), 7:07 p.m. EDT

Now that a miserable series is behind them, the Toronto Blue Jays may have their offense back on track.

With Dana Eveland on the mound looking for his third straight victory, Toronto will try to win its ninth consecutive series at home against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

After batting .192 and scoring nine runs while losing three straight to the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend, Toronto (8-6) tagged the Royals for 11 hits in Monday's 8-1 series-opening victory.

Jose Bautista had his third career two-homer game and matched a career high with five RBIs, and Travis Snider and Lyle Overbay each broke out of slumps with two hits apiece as Toronto improved to 19-6 at home in this matchup since losing two of three to the Royals from Aug. 19-21, 2002.

Snider, who was 1 for 23 in his previous seven games, hit a solo homer and singled to lift his average to .143.

Hitting a team-low .080 coming out of the Angels series, Overbay reached safely five times, and raised his career batting average at home against Kansas City to .364 with a double and a single.

Overbay is 4 for 6 with a homer and two RBIs lifetime against Tuesday's starter, Kyle Davies (1-0, 4.26 ERA).

The right-hander walked three and allowed three runs and seven hits over 6 2-3 innings in Wednesday's 7-3 win at Detroit. Davies is 1-1 with a 4.61 ERA in two career starts versus Toronto.

Looking for their first series win at home this season, the Blue Jays give the ball to Eveland (2-0, 1.35), who has emerged as a surprisingly solid fifth starter.

Acquired from Oakland in the offseason, the left-hander has won his first two starts for the first time in his career. He threw 7 1-3 scoreless innings in his season debut April 10 at Baltimore before surrendering two runs and three hits in six innings in Thursday's 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

"I don't think I've ever won my first two starts in a season, so that's nice," said Eveland, who broke a 23-year-old team record with 11 1/2 scoreless innings to begin his Blue Jays career. "Hopefully, I can just keep rolling with it."

Eveland is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two career starts versus Kansas City.

He'll face a Royals club that was leading the AL in hits and batting average before Brandon Morrow and two relievers held them to a season-low five hits Monday.

"He made it hard on us," Royals manager Trey Hillman said of Morrow. "He located his breaking ball down and out of the zone and he threw it for strikes."

Outfielder David DeJesus, who had an RBI single for Kansas City (5-8) on Monday, is batting .323 while hitting safely in seven straight games. He is 3 for 4 lifetime versus Eveland.

Scott Podsednik, who leads the majors with a .457 batting average, could be back in the Royals' lineup after returning to Kansas City for a family emergency.