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Royals look to ride resurgent Butler vs. Oakland

Sep 3, 2008 - 12:33 PM Oakland (63-75) at Kansas City (58-79) 8:10 pm. EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Billy Butler has found his groove in September, and the Kansas City Royals can only hope it leads to more wins. Butler aims to continue his hot stretch on Wednesday when the Royals continue a series against the Oakland Athletics.

The Royals burly designated hitter homered and drove in four runs in a 5-2 victory on Tuesday - the Royals' fifth win in 24 games. Butler also had four RBI in Saturday's 13-3 win over Detroit.

Butler is batting .500 (16-for-32) during an eight-game hitting streak, and said he has gone "back to the basics" after a slow start that ended with him being sent back to the minors for a month.

"Obviously, earlier in the year wasn't working what I was doing," Butler said. "I really didn't have a mentality going up there hitting. I was confused. I was maybe letting other things get to me. I got to the point where I was going to go back to the basics and what always worked."

Brian Bannister (7-14, 5.75 ERA) takes the hill for Kansas City seeking to snap a five-game skid. Bannister is 0-8 with a 7.99 ERA in his last 11 starts, and has not won since June 23.

Oakland, which has lost four straight, counters with Dana Eveland (8-8, 4.21). Eveland has allowed just three runs in his last 14 innings.