Tampa Bay @ Kansas City preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 22, 2011 ) Tampa Bay 4, Kansas City 10

THE STORY: The Kansas City Royals have put together three straight victories and have looked very good doing it. Their pitching allowed 11 hits in the first two games and the Royals pounded out 16 hits in the first game of the series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. Kansas City will send Jeff Francis to the mound Saturday to try to extend their streak against Jeff Niemann. The Royals are 27-28 at home and have scored 10 or more runs five times at Kauffman Stadium. The Rays have won only three of their last 10 and have fallen 8½ games out of first place in the American League-East.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FS Kansas City, SunSports (Tampa Bay)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeff Niemann (4-4, 3.94 ERA) vs. Royals LH Jeff Francis (3-11, 4.62).

Niemann is 2-0 in his last three starts, giving up two runs over 21 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts. He has won four of his last five decisions. Niemann is 3-0 lifetime against Kansas City with a 0.71 ERA over 25 1/3 innings. Current Royals’ batters are 6-for-37 against Niemann. Francis is 0-5 in his last five decisions and has not won since June 10. He allowed four runs over 7 1/3 innings to lose his last start against Minnesota on July 16. Teams are batting .287 overall against Francis and righthanders are hitting .299. Francis has a 3.38 ERA at home.

ABOUT THE RAYS (52-46): Tampa Bay must capitalize on this 10-game road trip against weaker teams (Kansas City, Oakland, Seattle), but it did not get off to a good start Friday. The Rays were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and struggled in the field. Sam Fuld, normally a standout defender, misplayed two fly balls in left field, and B.J. Upton and Matt Joyce collided and let a ball drop in right-center field. Evan Longoria homered for the second straight game and Johnny Damon is 5-for-9 in the last two games, but more production is needed throughout the lineup. The Rays recalled outfielder Desmond Jennings and sent shortstop Reid Brignac to Triple A Durham after the game Friday.

ABOUT THE ROYALS (41-58): Kansas City was 8-for-18 with runners in scoring position Friday and every starter had at least one hit - five had two or more. The Royals are third in the majors in hits (908). Melky Cabrera is leading the way with a .392 average and 14 RBIs in July. Jeff Francoeur is also 7-for-20 in the last five games, Alex Gordon is 6-for-18 in his last four and Eric Hosmer is 6-for-11 in his last three. Shortstop Alcides Escobar left Friday’s game in the sixth inning with a bruised right shin and is listed day-to-day. Sam Fuld slid into Escobar while trying to break up a double play in the fifth.

FINAL PITCH: Francoeur, the Royals’ right fielder, earned his 92nd career assist when he threw out Ben Zobrist in the first inning Friday. That is the most outfield assists for anyone in the majors since 2005, when Francoeur made his debut. The Royals have 34 outfield assists this season -- 11 by Francoeur.