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Rookie Aviles leads Royals against Cardinals

Jun 18, 2008 - 1:58 PM Kansas City (29-42) at St. Louis (42-30) 8:15 p.m. EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Rookie Mike Aviles will be looking to continue his hot start when the Kansas City Royals visit the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of an interleague series on Wednesday.

Aviles took over for struggling Tony Pena Jr. as starting shortstop on June 6 and never looked back, clubbing three homers and batting .357 (15-for-42) in the last 11 games.

The 27-year-old was named the Royals' minor league player of the year last season but was stuck behind Pena and Angel Berroa on the organizational depth chart. After Pena's horrendous start and Berroa's trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Aviles now has a full-time job.

Kansas City earned a 2-1 win in the series opener on Tuesday when Aviles snapped a 1-1 tie with a solo homer in the eighth inning off lefthander Ron Villone. Fellow youngster Kyle Davies pitched seven strong innings to earn the win and has allowed one earned run in each of his four major league starts this season.

The Royals will send struggling Brian Bannister (5-6, 5.00 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday. The righthander was one of the best pitchers in baseball when the season started, going 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA after his first three starts.

But its been mostly downhill for Bannister since mid-April, as the 27-year-old righthander has gone 2-6 with a 6.36 ERA while allowing opponents a .304 batting average in his last 11 starts. In his lone interleague start this season, Bannister allowed six runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings to absorb a loss at Florida on May 17.

St. Louis will counter with veteran Braden Looper (8-5, 4.34). The righthander is coming off the first shutout of his career June 11 at Cincinnati in which he allowed just three hits and no walks while striking out four to earn his eighth win.

Looper has struggled in interleague play however, going 0-4 with a 10.18 ERA as a starter.