St. Louis @ Kansas City preview
Kauffman Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 25, 2010 ) St. Louis 2, Kansas City 4
The St. Louis Cardinals look to start a new streak while the Kansas City Royals hope to keep a modest one going when the teams resume their interleague series on Saturday.
The Cardinals had won five straight games at Kauffman Stadium before dropping a 4-2 decision to the Royals on Friday.
Zack Greinke pitched into the ninth to earn his third win of the season and Joakim Soria earned his 18th save of the season for the Royals, who have won two straight since ending a five-game losing streak.
About half the fans at Kauffman Stadium on Friday were wearing Cardinals' red, but they did not have much to cheer about as Greinke shut St. Louis down until the ninth.
The Cardinals now enter Saturday's game a half-game behind the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central race. St. Louis has lost two straight while Cincinnati has won four in a row.
The St. Louis offense is struggling of late and if not for Chris Carpenter and a 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, the Cardinals would be on a longer losing skid.
Still, they have scored only three runs in their last three games and had been blanked for 17 straight innings before their modest outburst in the ninth on Friday.
The Cardinals have won all four of their interleague series this season and they will need a strong pitching performance from whoever they send to the mound Saturday.
St. Louis has scheduled starter Blake Hawksworth (1-4, 5.63 ERA) in line to go for Saturday's contest. Should he go, it will be the long reliever's first start in nearly three weeks.
The Cardinals also recalled right-hander Adam Ottavino from Triple-A Memphis on Friday while optioning pitcher Fernando Salas to Memphis.
A first-round pick in the 2006 draft, Ottavino has made three starts for St. Louis this season and is 0-2 with a 7.53 ERA. In nine starts at Memphis, Ottavino has posted a record of 5-3 with a 3.97 ERA.
The Royals will go with Kyle Davies, who is winless in his last four starts and has dropped four of his last six decisions.
Davies will be making his fifth career start against St. Louis and is 1-3 with a 5.32 ERA versus the Cardinals in his career. Part of Davies' struggles of late has been control. In his last three starts, he has pitched a total of just 14 inninngs and has allowed 14 walks.