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Rockies-Royals Preview

May 22, 2010 - 4:46 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (20-21) at Kansas City (17-25), 4:10 p.m. EDT

Kansas City's surge under new manager Ned Yost is helping the Royals extend their recent dominance over the Colorado Rockies.

The Royals look to extend their season-high winning streak to four and beat the visiting Rockies for the sixth straight time when the teams continue their interleague series Saturday afternoon.

Jose Guillen homered twice and drove in three runs as Kansas City (18-25) beat Colorado 9-2 in Friday's series opener. The Royals, winners of a season-best three straight and seven of nine, are 6-2 since Ned Yost replaced the fired Trey Hillman as manager on May 14.

Kansas City has outscored the opposition 26-9 during its three-game win streak.

"This is a different kind of motivation in this clubhouse," said Guillen, who has three home runs and six RBIs in his last two games. "Things have been going well. I see a lot of energy. It's been different. I like the way things are going here."

Colorado (20-22) fell to 0-4 at Kauffman Stadium and lost for the fourth time in five games overall. The Rockies haven't beaten Kansas City anywhere since May 19, 2007, at Coors Field.

Guillen helped extend that streak by hitting his 10th and 11th homers. The veteran outfielder, who's 11 for 30 with 10 RBIs in his last eight games, is a lifetime .345 hitter with 11 homers and 35 RBIs against the Rockies.

"I feel comfortable at home plate," said Guillen, who has already exceeded his homer total of nine from last season. "I've been struggling a little bit and was able to find my stroke back. Hopefully, it will stay for a good period of time."

After tagging Colorado's Jason Hammel for five runs in the series opener, Kansas City looks to get the best of Jeff Francis (0-0, 1.29 ERA) in his second start of the season.

The left-hander, who won a career-high 17 games during the Rockies' 2007 run to the World Series, allowed one run and struck out six in seven innings of a 2-1 win over Washington on Sunday. It was his first outing since Sept. 12, 2008, as arm issues forced him to miss the entire 2009 season and the start of this one.

"I don't think there was anybody in this organization that wasn't rooting for this guy," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

Francis is 6-6 with a 4.50 ERA in 16 interleague starts, including 1-1 with a 4.82 ERA in three against the Royals, who will counter with Kyle Davies.

Davies (3-2, 4.93) allowed two runs in six innings of a 4-3 win at Baltimore on Monday.

The right-hander has struggled versus the NL and the Rockies, going 4-7 with a 6.61 ERA in 13 interleague starts and 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA in three against Colorado.

Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki, 3 for 5 with four RBIs lifetime against Davies, had two hits Friday. Clint Barmes' two-run homer provided all the scoring for the Rockies, who have totaled 15 runs while losing four of six.