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Royals look to maintain recent home dominance of Indians

Aug 25, 2007 - 1:40 PM Cleveland (70-57) at Kansas City (57-70) 7:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) - Having moved out of the basement in the American League Central, the Kansas City Royals look to continue recent home dominance of the Cleveland Indians when the two division rivals continue their three-game series on Saturday.

Even if this is just another tough season for the Royals, back-to-back wins paired with Boston's doubleheader sweep on Friday over the Chicago White Sox (56-72) have moved Kansas City out of the division cellar.

If the recent past is any indicator, the Royals may be able to put more room in between themselves and the White Sox as Kansas City downed Cleveland for the ninth time in its 12 games at Kauffman Stadium.

To prolong this stretch, the Royals will turn to Kyle Davies (1-2, 5.03 ERA), who will aiming for his second win in a Kansas City uniform since joining the team on July 31 from Atlanta for closer Octavio Dotel.

He took the loss in his most recent outing vs. Oakland on Sunday in a 6-1 loss despite yielding just two runs and six hits over five frames.

The righthander took the loss in his only other lifetime start - as a member of the Braves - against Cleveland, permitting five runs - three earned - and six hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Aaron Laffey (1-1, 5.73) will face the Royals for the first in making his third career start for Indians. In his last major league start on August 9, the 22-year-old allowed four runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings for his first career win.

Cleveland holds a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit (69-59) in the Central.