Kansas City @ Atlanta preview
Turner Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2010 ) Kansas City 4, Atlanta 5
Kenshin Kawakami needs a break. Fortunately for him, he is pitching in a place where he has a great chance to get it.
Kawakami gets the start Sunday when the surging Atlanta Braves host the Kansas City Royals in the finale of their three-game interleague series.
Atlanta has won four straight, including the first two games of its series with Kansas City. After taking the opener 6-4, the Braves won Saturday 5-4 on a walk-off homer by Troy Glaus leading off the ninth inning.
Glaus' late-inning heroics should come as no surprise because pretty much nothing but good things happen to the Braves at Turner field. Atlanta has won 13 of its last 14 home games and leads the majors with a home record of 23-7.
The Braves are the only team in baseball that has not lost at least 10 home games and Kawakami is hoping to finally cash in on that success to end a rough streak.
Kawakami (0-9, 4.42 ERA) has made 13 starts this season for Atlanta and has yet to win one of them, despite the Braves' prolonged stretch of winning baseball. The Braves are 3-10 in games started by Kawakami and he is coming off a subpar start against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.
The loss to the Rays gave the Japanese right-hander a place in franchise history, albeit a negative one. He gave up five runs - two earned - in the 10-4 loss and he became the first starting pitcher in Braves franchise history to begin a season with nine straight defeats
He has been getting better and has an ERA of 3.00 in his last six starts, but hasn't been getting much offensive support. Kawakami has not been awful at home, he just hasn't been able to pick up a win, going 0-2 with a 3.67 ERA in five starts.
Starting for Kansas City is Kyle Davies, who has not won in his last three starts. He lasted just three innings in his last outing against the Houston Astros, allowing six runs and six hits in three innings.
Just to show how fickle the game of baseball can be, look at Davies, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2001 draft by the Braves. Davies is 3-2 on the road in seven starts, but his ERA is a whopping 6.47 and he has allowed at least five runs in each of his last four starts.