Kansas City @ Baltimore preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 12, 2012 ) Kansas City 3, Baltimore 5

The Kansas City Royals put a little bit too much faith in their closer on Monday, and it cost them a series sweep. They will be trying to bounce back from a tough loss when they visit the Baltimore Orioles for the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday. The Royals got eight scoreless innings and 102 pitches from James Shields but elected to go to closer Greg Holland with a one-run lead in the ninth before falling in extra innings.

The Orioles are once again outperforming expectations and will be looking to pick up their third straight victory. Baltimore is coming off a 7-4 road trip and averaged 5.3 runs in Oakland, Seattle and Los Angeles. Kansas City will try to slow that offense with its starting pitching, which has carried the team to a surprising 17-11 mark. Shields took a no-hitter into the sixth inning on Monday and is one of three starters with an ERA under 3.00. Another is Ervin Santana, who will get the call against the Orioles on Tuesday.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Kansas City, MASN2 (Baltimore)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals RH Ervin Santana (3-1, 2.00 ERA) vs. Orioles LH Wei-Yin Chen (2-3, 3.50)

Santana surrendered 39 home runs with the Angels in 2012 and yielded three in his first start of the season, but has found a way to keep the ball in the park and runs off the board over his last four official outings. The veteran right-hander has allowed one blast in his last four starts and is coming off his best outing of the season, when he went seven scoreless innings and did not walk a batter to earn a win over Cleveland. Santana has not had much success against the Orioles, owning a 4-5 record with a 5.42 ERA in 12 career starts. Baltimore sluggers Chris Davis and Nick Markakis each have three career homers off Santana.

Chen is coming off his worst outing of the season, a four-inning effort at Seattle in which he was reached for five runs to suffer the loss. The left-hander from Taiwan had allowed two hits in eight scoreless frames in his previous turn. Chen made a pair of starts against the Royals in his 2012 rookie campaign and did not fare well, going 0-1 while allowing a total of nine runs and 15 hits in 10 2/3 innings. Billy Butler is 5-for-6 with a pair of home runs off Chen.

WALK-OFFS

1. Holland had gone nine straight appearances without allowing an earned run before blowing the save on Monday.

2. Santana, who had a four-inning start against the Rays wiped off the record books when the game was postponed due to snow last week, will be bidding for career win No. 100.

3. Baltimore SS J.J. Hardy has homered in back-to-back games.

PREDICTION: Orioles 3, Royals 2