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Cardinals-Royals Preview

Jun 26, 2010 - 5:19 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (40-32) at Kansas City (30-43), 2:10 p.m. EDT

The St. Louis Cardinals' offense is suddenly slumping, but there's reason to believe they can get back on track.

After being shut down by the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner in the opener of a three-game set against the Royals, the Cardinals look to avoid losing their third straight game Saturday when they face slumping Kansas City starter Kyle Davies.

St. Louis (40-33) got off to a strong start to its six-game road trip with Tuesday's 9-4 win over Toronto, but it hasn't done much since, plating three total runs in its last three games.

In Friday's 4-2 loss to the Royals, Zack Greinke limited the Cardinals to six hits through eight scoreless innings before running into a little trouble in the ninth. After Ryan Ludwick reached on catcher's interference to open the ninth, Ryan Ludwick doubled and Greinke was lifted. Both those runners eventually scored, but St. Louis couldn't complete the comeback and fell one-half game back of Cincinnati in the NL Central.

"We came close to breaking loose and breaking through," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

The heart of St. Louis' batting order is in the middle of this slump, as Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols are a combined 2 for 14 in the last two games.

The two have fared much better against Davies, going 5 for 13 with a homer and a double.

Davies (4-5, 6.15 ERA) struggled with his command in Atlanta on Sunday, allowing four runs, four hits and a career-high seven walks in 4 1-3 innings of an 8-5 loss, but didn't receive a decision. The right-hander is 1-2 with a 9.78 ERA in his last five starts after recording a 2.65 ERA in his previous three outings.

Breaking out of this funk at home against the Cardinals could be tough, though. Davies has posted a 10.00 ERA in losing both career both career starts against them at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals (31-43) snapped a five-game home losing streak to St. Louis on Friday, and are trying to win just their second home series against their in-state rivals since 2002. Kansas City, which beat Washington 1-0 on Wednesday, is also trying to win three in a row for the first time since May 26-28.

Jose Guillen extended his career-best hitting streak to 19 games with a pair of singles in the opener, and also drove in a run. The Royals right fielder is batting .373 with 11 RBIs during his run, is tied with Texas' Josh Hamilton for the longest in the majors this season.

Guillen will look to keep the streak going against scheduled starter Blake Hawksworth (1-4, 5.63), who'll be making his first start in nearly three weeks.

Because of off days, the Cardinals have been using a four-man starting rotation for the last two weeks. Hawksworth, the team's long reliever, hasn't pitched since allowing one run and three hits in 2 1-3 innings out of the bullpen in Sunday's 3-2 loss to Oakland.

Hawksworth's made just one start this season, yielding six runs and seven hits in four innings of a 12-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 7.

This will be the right-hander's first start against the Royals.