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Royals-Braves Preview

Jun 19, 2010 - 5:44 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Kansas City (29-38) at Atlanta (39-28), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Although Atlanta has been nearly unbeatable at home for the past month, and Kansas City's Zach Greinke is among the major league leaders in losses, little suggests the Braves will coast to a victory.

Atlanta seeks its 13th win in 14 games at Turner Field on Saturday against Greinke, who tries to build on one of his best outings of the season and continue his dominance in NL parks.

The Braves (40-28) defeated Kansas City 6-4 in Friday's opener for their third win a row and fifth in six games. Chipper Jones and pitcher Derek Lowe each drove in two runs for Atlanta, which didn't win its 40th game last season until July 7.

"Getting the first win here gives us a pretty good chance to win the series," Martin Prado told the Braves' official website.

Atlanta has a half-game lead over New York in the NL East, largely thanks to its outstanding play at Turner Field.

The Braves are 12-1 in Atlanta since May 18 and are a major league-best 22-7 at home.

The Royals (29-39) have lost six of nine away from Kansas City, but have reason to believe they can even up this series with Greinke taking the ball.

Greinke (2-8, 3.94 ERA) struck out 12 in a five-hitter in Sunday's 7-3 victory over Cincinnati, ending a personal four-start losing streak. The right-hander walked none to earn his first victory since May 13 against Cleveland as Kansas City won for just the third time in his 14 starts.

Greinke pitched well enough to win a couple times during his skid, but did not receive a single run of support over the last four. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner benefited from some rare run support against the Reds, receiving more than four runs for just the third time.

"That's always really nice," Greinke told the Royals' official website. "One or two doesn't really do much but, at the end, when it's four or five runs, it makes it a lot easier to pitch."

Greinke has never faced the Braves, but is comfortable pitching in NL parks, going 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in six road interleague starts since 2008.

Similarly, teammate Billy Butler is enjoying batting against NL teams. The Kansas City first baseman hit his seventh homer Friday, and is batting .520 with two home runs, six doubles and six RBIs in his last six games - all against NL opponents.

Butler will try to keep up this surge against Kris Medlen (4-1, 3.23), who'll be making his first appearance against the Royals.

Medlen is 3-0 with a 3.59 ERA in seven starts since joining Atlanta's rotation for the injured Jair Jurrjens, with the Braves winning six times. In Sunday's 7-3 victory over Minnesota, he tossed a career-high eight innings and held the Twins scoreless until Delmon Young's three-run homer with two outs in the seventh. The right-hander gave up four hits and allowed three runs or fewer for the sixth time.

"Every time I have pitched, I've just tried to keep us in the game," Medlen said.