Bannister brings Royals relief from losing streak

Published Saturday, June 2, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Brian Bannister gave the Kansas City Royals a remedy for a seven-game losing streak.

The 26-year-old right-hander allowed two hits over eight innings and the Royals got some timely hitting from Tony Pena, Esteban German and Emil Brown to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4-1 last night.

"He did what we needed, desperately. He threw strikes and really wasn’t in trouble the whole game," Kansas City Manager Buddy Bell said of Bannister (1-3), who won for the first time since the Royals obtained him in an off-season trade.

The son of former major-league pitcher Floyd Bannister allowed a fourth-inning single to Akinori Iwamura and Greg Norton’s leadoff homer in the fifth before retiring the last 12 batters he faced to get his third career win.

The Royals, outscored 54-13 during their losing streak, converted a leadoff triple, a wild pitch and three singles into three runs in the second.

"We got those runs early, and I was just trying to keep us in the game for as long as I could," Bannister said. "We were really just sticking with my fastball. I gave up the home run on a changeup, and I only threw three of them tonight."

Scott Kazmir (3-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings and has not won at home since pitching a two-hit shutout against Boston last July 3.

The left-hander settled after the second to keep the Devil Rays close, but he wasn’t as sharp as he was in an 11-5 victory at Chicago last weekend.

"We really just didn’t come out to play," Kazmir said. "Not to take anything away from Bannister. He pitched great, but we’re better than that. I think tomorrow we need to come out and really show it."

Bannister, who was 2-1 with the New York Mets last season, struck out a career-high six and walked none in the longest outing of his career. Octavio Dotel walked the first two batters in the ninth then retired the next three for his first save in two years.

"I was telling the guys earlier, ‘I’m back!’ " said Dotel, who sat out most of the past two seasons with Oakland and the New York Yankees because of injuries. "I finally got my first save."

Kazmir walked one and struck out seven. But high pitch counts have been a problem all season, and the left-hander labored through a 33-pitch inning in giving up three runs in the second.

A wild pitch allowed Mike Sweeney to score after the Royals’ designated hitter stopped an 0-for-15 slide with a triple, then Pena and German delivered RBI singles to build Kansas City’s lead to 3-0.