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RHP Bannister takes the hill for Royals

Apr 30, 2008 - 2:09 PM Kansas City (12-14) at Texas (9-18) 8:05 pm EDT

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) - Brain Bannister hopes to regain his earlier form when the Kansas City Royals face the Texas Rangers in the second of a three-game series on Wednesday.

Bannister (3-2, 2.48 ERA) started the 2008 campaign in impressive fashion, yielding just two earned runs en route to winning his first three starts.

But the righthander has dropped his last two outings. Most recently, Bannister gave up two runs and four hits over 6 2/3 innings in a 2-0 loss against the Cleveland Indians last Thursday.

In his lone career meeting against Texas, Bannister struck out six batters through seven scoreless innings for the win on July 27.

The Rangers will counter with Kevin Millwood (1-2, 3.32), who has registered a no-decision over his last three starts. In his last outing, he was tagged for five runs and eight hits in six frames against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.

Millwood owns a 4-3 record with a 4.66 ERA in eight career meetings in the series.

Jose Guillen homered and had five RBI and Mark Teahen drove in three runs as the Kansas City posted a 9-5 victory over Texas in the series opener on Tuesday.