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Royals go for season-high win streak, take on Mariners

Sep 17, 2008 - 10:08 AM Seattle (57-93) at Kansas City (67-84) 8:10 p.m. EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- While the Kansas City Royals will look to match a season-high with their sixth consecutive win, the Seattle Mariners will attempt to avoid tying a season-worst, seven-game losing streak when the teams meet on Wednesday.

The Royals have enjoyed a power surge of late, led by recent call-up Ryan Shealy. The 29-year-old, who was brought up on September 2, has hit five homers, including four in as many games to go with nine RBI over that span.

Kansas City, which ranks next-to-last in the American League with 109 home runs, hit three in Tuesday's 6-3 win and has tallied eight in the last four games.

Gil Meche (11-11, 4.14) hopes the hot hitting continues. The righthander has already set a career-high with a 165 strikeouts after consecutive seasons with 156.

Meche, who went 55-44 in six seasons with the Mariners, is 1-1 with a 5.04 ERA in four starts against his former team since joining the Royals in 2007.

The Mariners counter with Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-2, 3.65), who is 2-1 with a 3.92 ERA since joining the rotation on August 9. The 25-year-old has been stellar of late, posting a 2.73 ERA over his last five starts.

He had allowed a home run in each of his first six starts before keeping the ball in the park while allowing three runs over 6 1/3 innings against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on September 12.

Seattle, which has dropped seven straight on three different occasions, has yet to win on its current 11-game road trip. They have managed 15 runs during the first six games of the journey.