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White Sox-Royals Preview

May 14, 2010 - 12:47 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (14-20) at Kansas City (11-23), 8:10 p.m. EDT

The Kansas City Royals' longest losing stretch of the season is over. So too is Trey Hillman's tenure as manager.

A day after snapping a seven-game skid and firing Hillman, Ned Yost will guide the Royals in Friday night's series opener against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.

Moments after Kansas City (12-23) beat Cleveland 6-4 on Thursday for its first win since May 4, the team fired Hillman after going 152-207 since he was named manager before the 2008 season.

The latest victory by the last-place Royals was their second in 11 games and improved their home mark to an AL-worst 5-10. Their 140 runs rank near the bottom of the majors.

General manager Dayton Moore began discussions with Hillman about the decision after a 4-0 loss to the Indians on Wednesday night and made the move after another talk less than 12 hours later.

"Trey Hillman is an incredible leader," Moore said. "The recent struggles of our baseball team, however, require a change.

"The process is very difficult, but at the end of the day we've got to make decisions that are best for our baseball team and our organization."

Yost, who was hired by the Royals in January as a special adviser, returns to managing after going 457-502 with Milwaukee from 2003-08. He was fired late in the season with the Brewers in the playoff race.

"Ned obviously has been through what we've been going through before," Moore said. "He knows our system and is acquainted with it. He'll be a different voice for us at this time."

Yost will try to guide the Royals to consecutive victories for the first time since April 30-May 1.

Alberto Callaspo hit a three-run homer Thursday for Kansas City, which broke out after scoring two runs in its previous two games. Callaspo is batting .304 this season, and is 5 for 13 against the White Sox in 2010.

Gil Meche (0-4, 8.24 ERA) opens the Yost era trying a seventh time for his first win. He allowed three runs but walked seven in eight innings of a 3-2 loss at Texas on Saturday.

The right-hander, who allowed five runs in five innings of a 5-1 loss at Chicago on May 3, is 8-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 18 starts versus the White Sox (14-20), who took two of three from the visiting Royals last week.

Chicago hopes to get back on track by improving its play against teams from its own division. The White Sox are 5-9 versus the AL Central, and coming off a split of a two-game set at first-place Minnesota.

"We got a pretty good club," manager Ozzie Guillen told the White Sox official website. "We have to play good against our division."

Getting a second straight solid performance from Mark Buehrle (2-4, 4.96) could help do that as he looks to avoid a fifth straight loss. Though Buehrle is 0-4 with a 6.23 ERA in his last five starts, he limited Toronto to three runs in eight innings of a 7-4, 12-inning loss Friday.

The left-hander is 20-9 with a 3.57 ERA in 41 starts against Kansas City.

Alex Rios had his 12-game hitting streak snapped in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Twins, but he's batting .322 for a Chicago team that's hitting an AL-low .230.

The center fielder is 6 for 11 with a homer and five RBIs against the Royals this season. He's 14 for 24 all-time versus Meche.