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Royals and Bannister beat O's, 4-0

By Steve Melewski on May 11, 2008 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Brian Bannister, who entered with an ERA of 8.02 over his last four starts, pitched eight shutout innings as the Royals beat the O's, 4-0. Both hits he allowed were singles.

With the win, the Royals end their 12-game losing streak vs. the Orioles.

Mark Teahen's RBI single gave KC a 1-0 lead in the 2nd and they made it 2-0 on an RBI double by Jose Guillen in the third. KC added two in the 7th.

O's starter Brian Burres gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings in falling to 3-4.

The O's begin a two-game series vs. division-leading Boston Tuesday night at Camden Yards.

BANNISTER PITCHES ROYALS TO 4-0 WIN IN SERIES FINALE

Righty Brian Bannister ended a four-start winless slide, pitching a two-hitter over eight innings as KC beat the Orioles today, 4-0. That ends the Royals 12-game losing streak vs. the Birds and is their first win over Baltimore since July 25, 2006.

The Orioles had a chance for a 5-5 road trip, but after getting 42 hits the last four games, today were shut down by Bannister, who is now 4-4. He fanned five in his first-ever start vs. Baltimore.

The O's, who got just two singles from Guillermo Quiroz and Luke Scott, did not have a single runner reach second base, as they fall to 19 and 19.

Mark Teahen had an RBI single in the 2nd and Jose Guillen's RBI double an inning later made it 2-0. The Royals, now 16-21, added two in the seventh.

Losing pitcher Brian Burres gave up four runs and nine hits over six frames in falling to 3-4.

The Orioles are off Monday and begin a two-game series vs. division-leading Boston on Tuesday at Camden Yards with Jeremy Guthrie facing Josh Beckett.

Balt 0-2-0
KC 4-11-2

POST-GAME NOTES

The O's were held to a season-low two hits, both singles and no runners even reached second base. It's the first time this year the O's have been shutout and the 4th shutout pitched by KC. Only Tampa, with five, has more in the AL.

The O's 12-game win streak vs. the Royals came to an end. They outscored KC 64-28 during the streak. KC's last win vs. Baltimore was on July 25, 2006. The last time the O's beat any team 13 times in a row was Toronto, and that was a 15-game win streak vs. the Jays during the 1978-79 seasons.

The Birds, who batted .284 as a team the previous four games, had just two hits in 28 at bats today for an average of .071.

Both Brian Roberts (left foot) and Ramon Hernandez (left wrist) missed the game but both should be able to play on Tuesday vs. Boston.

The Royals improve to 2-5 on a 10-game homestand and win for just the second time in seven games.

Brian Burres has lost his last three starts and during that stretch is 0-3 5.19.

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ROYALS GETTING CLOSER TO VICTORY

KC 4 O's 0......end of 7th

KC picks up two big insurance runs and knocks Burres out in the 7th. Gordon and Butler came up with RBI's to make it 4-0. Now KC is six outs away from ending its 12-game losing streak vs. the O's.

Burres line: 6ip, 9h, 4r-er, 2b, 1k.......103 pitches

NO ORIOLES MAGIC TODAY

KC 2 O's 0......middle of seven

It's not looking good with Bannister hurling a two-hitter thru seven. Maybe the O's are waiting for a 9th-inning rally to exorcise the demons of last year's Mother's Day Massacre.

WHERE'S THE HITTING TODAY

Coming into this game, the O's had 42 hits and a team average of .284 the past four games. Coming into this game, KC starter Brian Bannister had an ERA of 8.02 his past four starts.

Of course, Bannister is pitching shutout ball thru five vs. the O's. He has allowed just one hit, a Quiroz single in the 3rd.

WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS ???

From O's PR: According to Baseball Analysis and Tracking System (BATS) the Orioles have hit more line drive outs (73) than any team in the majors. Colorado is second with 69. I guess that's a positive stat for the offense. Or maybe the O's are just not lucky in that regard. But aren't those liners that get caught start to even out with bloops that fall in over the course of a season ?

ANOTHER ROYAL RUN

KC 2 O's 0.........end of 3rd

Jose Guillen with a booming RBI double to left center in the 3rd gives the Royals a 2-0 lead. They already have six hits off Burres and they've hit some balls hard early in this game.

KC SCORES FIRST

KC 1 O's 0.......end of second

Brian Burres got out of a major jam in the second inning with just one run scoring. First, the Royals started the inning with four straight singles for a 1-0 lead.

There were no outs. He then got Callapso to ground to third, Huff threw home for the force out. Then he got Gathright to ground to the mound and Burres got the force at home. Then leadoff hitter David DeJesus, batting .500 with runners in scoring position, flied out to center.

The first batter of that inning, Jose Guillen hit a soft liner that Bynum leaped for at short and it pop out of his glove. It was scored a single.

BOSTON PROBABLES

Tuesday 7:05p: Jeremy Guthrie (1-3 4.32) v. Josh Beckett (4-2 3.70)
Wednesday 3:05p: Daniel Cabrera (3-1 3.54) v. Jon Lester (2-2 4.06)

UNDERWAY IN GAME FOUR IN KC

Game four of this series has begun. The O's are going for their first four-game sweep on the road since July 6-9, 1995 at Chicago vs. the White Sox.

They have won 12 in a row and 15 of the last 16 vs. the Royals, who are now a season-high six games under .500.

PRE-GAME NOTES

The Orioles have won 12 in a row and 15 of the last 16 vs. Kansas City. During the win streak, they have outscored the Royals 64 to 28.

They have seen their offense come to life and after not getting a three-run homer in the season's first 34 games, they have three in three games in KC.

Over the past four contests, the O's have 42 hits and a team batting average of .284.

They have won the first three contests in KC by scores of 4-1, 7-4 and 6-5. In last night's win Kevin Millar had three hits including a three-run homer. Garrett Olson improved to 2-0 and George Sherrill picked up his 13th save.

Brian Burres

PITCHING MATCHUP

Brian Burres (3-3 3.19) will make his 7th start of the season as he tries to snap a two-start losing streak. Burres has lost back to back starts vs. Tampa and Oakland, pitching to an ERA of 4.77.

But going back further, over his past four starts, he is 2-2 2.16 (6er - 25 ip).

In four road starts in 2008, Burres is 2-2 3.75. He has pitched just one inning in his career vs. KC. He did not allow a run in that inning last season.

This year, right-handed batters are hitting .242 vs. Burres and lefties are at .279.

Righty Brian Bannister pitches today for KC. He is 3-4 4.46 on the season. He won his first three starts, but has lost his last four.

He was pitching great early in a 3-0 start where his ERA was 0.86. But over the last four outings, he is 0-4 8.02 (19er, 5 HR's in 21.1 ip).

In his last start, Tuesday vs. the Angels, he gave up 5 runs and 13 hits in 6.2 innings.

He had a strong rookie season in 2007, going 12-9 3.87. Among AL rookies, he was second in wins and fourth in ERA. He had a 17-start stretch last season, from June 1st to September 2nd, where he was 12-4 2.75.

The 27-year-old Bannister has never pitched vs. the Orioles.

THESE GUYS ARE HITTING ON THE ROAD TRIP

Bynum: 5-12 his first three games, 4 runs scored
Huff: batting .306 (11-36) on the trip, he is 4-13 in the KC series
Markakis: is 6-16 the past four games
Millar: batting .323 (10-31) on the trip, he is 8-19 the last five games
Mora: batting .353 (12-34) with two homers, 7 RBI on trip

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