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Royals aim to maintain interleague run vs. Cardinals

Jun 27, 2008 - 2:04 PM St. Louis (45-35) at Kansas City (36-43) 8:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals are likely disappointed that interleague play concludes this weekend.

The Royals eye their sixth straight win when they put their league-best interleague record on the line Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Kansas City, which is just 24-40 against American League opponents this season, is 12-3 in interleague play and has won 10 of its last 11 overall against the National League. On Wednesday, the club posted a 4-2 win over Colorado to complete a three-game sweep of the defending NL champions.

The Royals' pitching as been front and center during the run. The team yielded just nine runs in the three-game set against the Rockies and has allowed three runs or fewer in nine of the last 12 games.

Gil Meche (5-8, 4.91 ERA) will be looking to maintain that stretch as he pursues his third win in as many starts in the series opener. The righthander struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings in Saturday's 5-3 win over San Francisco, permitting two runs - one earned - and three hits.

The Cardinals will counter with Joel Pineiro (2-3, 3.86), who will try to end his seven-game winless streak. The righthander did not factor into the decision in Sunday's 5-3 loss to Boston despite allowing two runs and seven hits over seven frames.

St. Louis, which was swept by the Royals at home last week, has slugger Albert Pujols back in the lineup. The first baseman, who was slowed by a calf injury, went 4-for-4 in his return from the 15-day disabled list Thursday vs. Detroit.