• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Royals, Hochevar set for rubber match with Cubs

Jun 26, 2011 - 2:42 PM (Sports Network) - The Royals haven't given Luke Hochevar much run support, and the 27-year-old right-hander has paid the price for the offensive woes. He'll be on the mound today when the Royals play the rubber match of their three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Kauffman Stadium.

Hochevar has just two victories since the start of May and Kansas City has scored more than three runs just once in his last eight starts. In that time, he's gone 1-5. That includes a Tuesday loss versus Arizona when Hochevar allowed eight hits and five runs over seven innings.

Hochevar is 3-3 in nine career interleague starts, posting a 4.74 ERA. This will be his first time facing the Cubs.

Randy Wells gets the starting assignment today for the Cubs. The right-hander is 0-1 over his last five starts since coming off the disabled list. His lone win came in his first start, April 4 against Arizona, but after that Wells went on the DL with a right forearm strain. He hasn't been the same since. One week ago, he was lifted after yielding four runs in six innings of a no- decision against the Yankees.

Wells will make his first career start against the Royals. He is 2-3 with a 5.07 ERA in eight interleague starts.

Despite losing, 3-2, last night, the Cubs are on the verge of finally winning an interleague series. They have dropped their last six interleague series since taking two of three from Oakland on June 15-17 of last season. Also, they are looking for their first road series victory since sweeping a two-game set in Florida, May 18-19. The team's last road series win of three or more games was May 2-4 in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

A night after committing a costly error, Chris Getz found redemption in the form of a two-out, eighth-inning RBI single, lifting the Royals to a 3-2 win on Saturday.

With runners on second and third, Getz, who fumbled a potential ninth-inning double play ball in the Royals' series-opening loss, slapped a 2-2 cutter from Jeff Samardzija up the middle. The ball deflected off Samardzija's hand and rolled to short, allowing Jeff Francoeur to score the go-ahead run.

"It was kind of brutal, the small debacle I made," Getz said. "Actually, not small, it was huge. That's the great thing about baseball. You come back the next day. I don't have to wait a week. You show up the next day and you can do something to help the team."

Samardzija (5-4) was charged with the loss for the Cubs, who have dropped five of seven.

"It's tough to see that ball just go up the middle," Samardzija said. "It's hit right up the middle, you know. I kind of peeked back and they were shaded that way, too, so he (SS Starlin Castro) probably would have had it and it was just a reaction play. I thought I had a shot at it and it's unfortunate."

Greg Holland (2-1) worked a perfect eighth as the Royals put the brakes on a six-game losing streak. Joakim Soria struck out the side in the ninth to record his 12th save of the season.

Carlos Zambrano and Danny Duffy battled to a push, as both starters allowed just two runs over seven innings while striking out two. For the rookie Duffy, the seven innings marked a career high.

Chicago's only runs came courtesy of back-to-back homers from Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto.

This is the first regular season meeting between these clubs in 10 years, when the Royals lost two of three at Wrigley Field in July, 2001. KC is 7-10 all- time against the Cubs.