Kansas City @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( May 17, 2010 ) Kansas City 4, Baltimore 3
Zack Greinke’s brilliant 2009 season is starting to feel like a distant memory.
A year ago, Greinke parlayed a dazzling start and sensational finish to the season in winning the American League Cy Young Award.
That he managed such a feat playing for a team that won just 65 games – second-fewest in the AL – was extraordinary in itself.
Greinke’s 16 wins accounted for 25 percent of his team’s total, and his microscopic 2.16 ERA spoke to his dominance, especially pitching for a club that scored more runs than only one other team in the league.
Fast-forward to 2010. Greinke enters Tuesday night’s start against the Baltimore Orioles with a still-impressive 2.73 ERA but an ugly 1-4 record. A year ago, he won his first six starts and didn’t absorb his fourth loss until July 3.
Although the record has changed dramatically from a year, one thing remains a constant for Greinke: The offense typically takes a night off when he's on the hill.
In his four losses, Kansas City has put a total of seven runs on the scoreboard and has generated a mere 23 runs overall in his eight starts.
So it’s hardly a surprise that in Greinke’s only victory, which came in his last outing on Saturday, Kansas City scored six runs – a veritable boxscore bonanza for the right-hander.
Kevin Millwood, who gets the start Tuesday for the Orioles, feels Greinke’s pain. Baltimore has scored six runs in Millwood's four losses and 23 overall in his eight starts.
Not that the Orioles put up runs for any of their pitchers. Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Royals marked the 25th time in their 39 games that they have produced three or fewer runs.
Baltimore had a golden chance to steal Monday’s game, loading the bases in the ninth inning with one out and the heart of the batting order coming up.
Yet they couldn’t push across the equalizer as Ty Wigginton, who is riding an eight-game hitting streak, struck out and Miguel Tejada grounded out to end it.
Cleanup batter Billy Butler came up big for the Royals with a run-scoring single and an RBI double, his third consecutive multi-hit game. Butler has hit in seven straight games during which he has gone 10-for-26 to raise his average to .342.
If Monday’s game is any indication, the Orioles won’t have much of a home-field advantage on Tuesday. Only 9,223 fans showed up for the first of this two-game set, the second-smallest crowd since Camden Yards opened in 1992.
Kansas City has won three of four games since manager Trey Hillman was fired and replaced by interim manager Ned Yost.