• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Hudson tries to keep rolling in Arizona's finale with Royals

Jun 23, 2011 - 2:45 PM (Sports Network) - Daniel Hudson has done a complete 180-degree turn since losing his first four starts of the season and will try to keep the Arizona Diamondbacks atop the National League West when he takes the mound tonight in the finale of a three-game interleague series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Hudson has won two straight starts and is 5-0 with a 2.70 earned run average in his last seven, with the D'Backs going 6-1 in that span. He went the distance for the first time in his career in a 4-1 win over the Chicago White Sox last Friday, scattering three hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

He has now won eight of nine decisions following that 0-4 beginning to improve 8-5 with a 3.56 ERA in 15 outings in 2011.

The right-hander, who has allowed one earned run in each of his last three appearances, has no record and a 10.13 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Royals, spanning just 5 1/3 innings. Hudson spent the 2009 season and parts of the 2010 campaign with the White Sox before being traded to Arizona.

Arizona remained a half-game ahead of San Francisco for the NL West lead with Wednesday's 3-2 victory thanks to a three-spot in the top of the fifth inning. Xavier Nady had an RBI double and Willie Bloomquist provided a run-scoring single to highlight the frame, while Nady later came around to score on Ryan Roberts' sacrifice bunt.

The D'Backs produced just five hits, but won for the fourth time in their last six tries.

"Those are things we've been working on all spring training and we only had five hits, so we were very efficient with that inning and we went to our bullpen," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson.

Ian Kennedy threw six innings for the win, allowing one run and eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Micah Owings allowed a run in the seventh before both David Hernandez and J.J. Putz tossed a scoreless inning of relief, with Putz notching his 19th save in the process.

The Diamondbacks, who catapulted to the top of the NL West with a 15-2 run last month, are 6-2 in interleague action this season and will shoot for a sweep of the Royals after winning the opener, 7-2, on Tuesday.

Arizona's Justin Upton has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, hitting .462 in that stretch. Teammate Chris Young had hit safely in 14 of his last 17 games (.323), but finished 0-for-3 with a walk last night.

The Diamondbacks will try to move eight games over the .500 mark for the first time since they was 30-22 on May 27, 2008. The team has won 14 of its last 18 road games and will also visit Detroit for three games on this six-game road swing.

Kansas City will try to salvage the finale of this set after dropping a tough one in Wednesday's middle portion. Chris Getz had three hits and two runs scored, while Melky Cabrera and Mike Moustakas finished with two hits apiece for the Royals, who have lost four straight and six of their past seven games and fell last night despite an 11-5 advantage in hits. Promising youngster Eric Hosmer had an RBI triple for the Royals in the loss.

"They scored three [runs] on five hits and we scored two on 11. We just couldn't get a big hit in a situation," said Royals manager Ned Yost.

Jeff Francis started for Yost's squad last night and fell to 3-8 this season after he was touched for three runs and five hits in seven innings.

The Royals fell to 2-6 against the National League this season and will next host the Chicago Cubs for three games over the weekend.

Felipe Paulino gets the nod for the Royals this evening and is 0-0 with a 2.33 earned run average in five games (four starts) with the Royals. He was acquired from Colorado on May 26 in exchange for cash considerations after being designated for assignment on May 22, going 0-4 in 18 relief appearances for the Rockies.

Paulino last pitched in Friday's 5-4 win at St. Louis and allowed four runs on five hits in six innings with five strikeouts and four walks in the no- decision -- his fifth in a row. Kansas City is 4-1 in Paulino's five trips to the hill and the right-hander owns an 0-2 record with a 4.73 ERA in five games (one start) against Arizona in his career.

The D'Backs won two of three at Kansas City in the last meeting between the teams in 2009, with Arizona recording back-to-back 12-5 wins to close out the set.