(Sports Network) - The Baltimore Orioles will attempt to maintain their recent dominance of the Kansas City Royals when the two teams continue a four-game series tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
Baltimore has now won 10 straight encounters with the Royals following Thursday's 4-1 victory. Nick Markakis homered and drove in three runs to lead the Orioles' offense, while Daniel Cabrera fired a complete-game three-hitter to help his club stop a season-high five-game losing streak.
Cabrera (3-1) struck out seven and walked just one to record his fifth career complete game for Baltimore, who are an astounding 16-3 against the Royals since the start of the 2005 campaign. The Orioles have gone 8-2 at Kauffman Stadium over that time frame.
Kansas City starter Luke Hochevar (2-2) gave up four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks to take the loss. Tony Pena, Jr. drove in the only run for the Royals, who have dropped three of their last four games.
Kansas City's struggling offense may get a boost from tonight's matchup against struggling Orioles starter Steve Trachsel. The veteran right-hander has failed to make it out of the fourth inning in three of his last four outings and hasn't recorded a victory since he defeated Seattle in his season debut back on April 4.
In his most recent trip to the hill, Trachsel served up three home runs in three innings and surrendered six runs total to take the loss in Baltimores 6-5 setback to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Sunday. He wasn't any better in a no decision at Chicago on April 26, when the 37-year-old allowed five runs (4 earned) and walked five in just three-plus innings of work.
Trachsel has faced the Royals nine times previously and gone 1-3 with a 4.81 earned run average in those encounters. He did pitch two strong games against Kansas City last season, including a complete-game five-hitter to lead Baltimore to a 9-1 victory on May 28, 2007.
Gil Meche gets the call for Kansas City this evening and comes off his best start of the season. The highly-regarded hurler spun seven shutout innings to defeat Cleveland on Sunday, yielding just four hits and not walking a batter to halt a personal two-start losing streak.
Prior to turning in that gem, Meche had gone 1-4 with an uncharacteristic 7.22 ERA over his first six starts of the year. The 29-year-old has lost in all three of his Kauffman Stadium appearances this season, having given up 16 runs and 23 hits over 16 innings during that stretch.
Meche does own a 4-4 record and a 2.95 ERA in 15 career starts against Baltimore, but he failed to beat the Orioles (0-2) in three tries last season
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