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White Sox-Royals Preview

May 15, 2010 - 4:44 AM By ANDY LEFKOWITZ STATS Editor

Chicago (14-20) at Kansas City (12-23), 7:10 p.m. EDT

In April, Jake Peavy looked lost on the mound for the Chicago White Sox. He seems to have righted himself in May.

Peavy will try to win his third straight start and help the White Sox bounce back Saturday night when they continue a weekend series with the Kansas City Royals, who look to give new manager Ned Yost his second consecutive victory.

Peavy (2-2, 5.56 ERA), making his first career start in Kansas City, has overcome a shaky opening month by flashing the form that earned him the NL Cy Young Award in 2007 with San Diego.

The right-hander was 0-2 with a 7.85 ERA in five April starts, allowing 25 runs, 32 hits and 20 walks in 28 2-3 innings. On May 3, though, he limited Kansas City (13-23) to four hits, walked one and struck out nine in seven innings of a 5-1 win.

Last Saturday, Peavy surrendered two runs, three hits and fanned eight through eight innings of a 7-3 victory over Toronto.

"You see my stuff is better," Peavy said. "Guys are swinging and missing."

Kansas City didn't miss much in the seventh inning Friday, totaling five runs and six hits off four pitchers to secure a 6-1 win. The victory was the first in the AL for Yost, the former Milwaukee skipper who replaced the fired Trey Hillman on Thursday after two-plus lackluster seasons.

"Change has a way of kind of slapping you in the face," said Yost, who had 457 wins in six seasons with the Brewers before being fired in 2008. "Everybody loved Trey, everybody respected Trey and I think it caught everyone offguard and they realized there was a sense of urgency for us and this is unacceptable."

A.J. Pierzynski drove in Omar Vizquel for Chicago's only run. Vizquel, a 22-year veteran and winner of 11 Gold Gloves as a shortstop, was the designated hitter for the first time in his career, and finished 1 for 4 to raise his average to .143.

The White Sox, losers of 10 of 16, failed to win their first consecutive games since sweeping Seattle from April 23-25.

"There's so many guys struggling. It is hard to see it every day," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "It gets to the point I don't want to lose any confidence in those guys. I never will, but it starts to put doubts in my mind. Am I thinking the right way or am I lying to myself?"

Looking for its season-high third straight win, Kansas City turns to Luke Hochevar (3-1, 5.65), who will start against Chicago (14-21) for the second time this month. On May 4, the right-hander had perhaps his finest outing of the year when he held the White Sox to a run and three hits over six innings of a 7-2 win in Chicago.

Five days later against Texas, Hochevar turned in a dismal performance. He gave up four runs, three hits and four walks in a season low-tying 2 2-3 innings, and didn't get a decision in the Royals' 6-4 loss.

"Sick as a dog. He was throwing up in the bullpen during his warmup," Hillman told the Royals' official website. "He didn't make any excuses, he still wanted to start but the fact is he was pretty sick."

Hochevar has no record and a 2.51 ERA in two starts this year at Kauffman Stadium.