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Davis expected to come off DL to face Royals

Jul 22, 2011 - 3:02 PM (Sports Network) - Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Wade Davis is expected to come off the disabled list today and make his first start in over two weeks.

He sure has one tough act to follow.

After James Shields helped Tampa Bay earn a split of a recent series with a division rival, Davis hopes to lift his club to consecutive victories Friday night in the opener of a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

The Rays hit the road for 10 straight beginning tonight and hope they have created some momentum after splitting a four-game series with the Yankees. The odds seemed against Tampa Bay in Thursday's finale when the club found itself matched up with Cy Young Award candidate CC Sabathia, but Shields was up to the task.

The right-hander held to New York to just one run over 7 2/3 innings as the Rays escaped with a 2-1 triumph.

Evan Longoria went 2-for-2 with a home run and two walks for the Rays, who won for just the third time in nine games and hope to win consecutive contests for the first time since July 6-7.

Brandon Gomes relieved Shields in the eighth inning and needed just one pitch to induce a Nick Swisher fly out before Kyle Farnsworth notched his 19th save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning.

"How about [Gomes]? The kid comes in there and throws a first-pitch split and gets us out of there," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "He (Swisher) was just a little bit out in front because he was thinking fastball there."

Davis is slated to make his first start since July 6 at Minnesota, where he gave up four runs -- three earned -- on nine hits and three walks over five innings of a no-decision before being sidelined with a strained right forearm. Davis made it through a 65-pitch bullpen session on Monday, convincing Maddon to go with the right-hander tonight.

"Davis threw a really good 'pen the other day," Maddon said on Tampa Bay's website. "That's why we wanted to pop him in Friday."

The 25-year-old is 7-6 with a 4.25 earned run average in 17 starts this season and has pitched to a 1.29 ERA in two career starts versus the Royals. He is 1-0 in that span, holding Kansas City's offense to a pair of runs across 14 innings.

Royals starter Luke Hochevar has been less successful against his opponent. The righty is 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA in four career meetings with the Rays, getting charged with 20 runs over 18 innings. Just four of those runs have come over two home starts in this matchup, resulting in a pair of no- decisions.

Hochevar hasn't factored into the decision of his past three starts overall. The 27-year-old yielded 11 runs over eight innings in the first two outings of that stretch before posting a solid start at Minnesota on Friday. Hochevar was charged with a single run on three hits and three walks over seven innings, giving him a 5.23 ERA on the season to go along with a 5-8 record.

He'll try to pitch the Royals to a third straight win after they picked up a series win over the White Sox with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday. Alex Gordon made a spectacular catch in the sixth inning to save some runs from being scored and then accounted for the game-winning run in the 11th inning when he crossed home plate on a wild pitch.

The gift came with Billy Butler at the plate and Gordon said he was waiting for Chicago reliever Sergio Santos to make a mistake.

"I knew they were going to pitch Billy tough, splitters and sliders," Gordon said. "I told [3rd base coach Eddie Rodriguez], 'If I get anything close to a wild pitch, I'm going.' Once I saw it get away from [White Sox catcher A.J.] Pierzynski, I was off."

Kansas City starter Bruce Chen yielded four hits and fanned four over eight innings for the Royals, who had dropped five of six before their current modest winning streak.