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Royals-Rangers Preview

May 7, 2010 - 5:02 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (11-17) at Texas (14-14), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Zack Greinke is pitching as well as anyone, although he's got nothing to show for it.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner tries again for his first victory Friday night when the Kansas City Royals continue their four-game road series against the Texas Rangers.

Greinke (0-3, 2.27 ERA) went 6-0 with a 0.40 ERA through six starts last year en route to becoming the first Kansas City pitcher to win the Cy Young since David Cone in 1994. It's been a different story through six outings this year, although it hasn't been because he's pitched poorly.

"By the end of the year, things will even out like they always do," he said.

The Royals (11-18) have scored a total of 16 runs in his outings. Greinke went eight innings for his first complete game Sunday when he lost 1-0 at Tampa Bay on a homer by Evan Longoria.

"A guy's got to be able to make one mistake," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "It's tough. No run support once again for Zack. It's been a continuing theme this year. It's a shame."

The right-hander has pitched fairly well in nine career starts against the Rangers, going 3-4 with a 2.78 ERA. Greinke is 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts in Arlington.

Greinke has dominated Texas slugger Josh Hamilton, who is 0 for 13 with seven strikeouts against him. Michael Young has been limited to six singles in 26 at-bats.

Getting Greinke support could be difficult since Texas (15-14) has won the last three outings by C.J. Wilson (2-1, 1.65), who pitches Friday. Wilson is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA in that span, allowing one run over seven innings Sunday in a 3-1, 11-inning victory at Seattle.

Wilson is in his first season in the rotation after three years as the Rangers closer. The right-hander has never started against the Royals, posting a 3.27 ERA in 10 relief appearances.

If a pitchers' duel materializes Friday, it will be in stark contrast to what happened in Thursday's series opener as Texas won 13-12. The Rangers blew an 8-0 lead before Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning to give them the lead for good.

"It was one of those crazy games where the wind was kind of blowing out and it was a good day to hit," said Young, who had two hits. "The Royals battled back and made it a ball game, but we found a way to win at the end. ... Any win is fun."

Hamilton had three hits with three RBIs and four runs scored. He's 10 for 25 with six RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.

Guerrero homered twice and drove in four runs to bring his RBI total to 10 in the last three games. He's hitting .453 at home with multihit efforts in 10 of 14 games.

Scott Podsednik homered and drove in four runs for the Royals, who had 11 hits to bring their total to 39 in the last three games. Kansas City has lost four of five.