VENUE: Kauffman Stadium
The Baltimore Orioles' newest manager is not expected to lead the team until next week. In the meantime, the team will try to build off a rare victory.
The majors' worst team will attempt to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly three weeks Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.
The Orioles (32-70) hired Buck Showalter as their manager Thursday. Juan Samuel, the interim manager since Dave Trembley's firing June 4, will run the team until Showalter's expected debut Tuesday night at home against the Los Angeles Angels.
Samuel, who is 17-31 with the team, would move back to his former job as a third-base coach if he chooses to stay.
Showalter, whose most recent stint was with Texas in 2006, has 11 seasons of experience with the Rangers, New York Yankees and Arizona. The Yankees and Diamondbacks made one playoff appearance each under his leadership, and both won World Series titles the year after he left.
However, he faces a difficult task in turning around the fortunes of the Orioles, who are headed to their 13th straight losing season.
After sweeping AL West-leading Texas in four games before the All-Star break, Baltimore has lost 11 of 14 to open the second half.
The Orioles, however, snapped a five-game slide with Thursday night's 6-5 win in 11 innings. After Corey Patterson hit the tying home run in the eighth, Ty Wigginton drove home the go-ahead score on a sacrifice fly.
Before opening the four-game series, the Orioles traded Miguel Tejada and cash to San Diego for a minor league prospect. The third baseman was hitting .269 with seven homers and fourth on the team with 39 RBIs.
The Royals' eighth defeat in 10 home games dropped them a season-high 18 games below .500 at 42-60. They have lost 14 of 17 overall.
"If we put extra pressure on ourselves, we're really hurting ourselves," second baseman Mike Aviles said. "We can't really worry about trades and injuries. That's just part of baseball. You're going to lose people and gain people. We've just got to pull together and fight through the storm."
To avoid their second six-game losing streak this month, Kansas City will turn to recently acquired Sean O'Sullivan (1-1, 4.00 ERA).
O'Sullivan was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels on July 22 and suffered a loss to the New York Yankees in his debut Sunday.
The right-hander, who beat the Yankees in his final start for the Angels, gave up five runs over five innings during a 12-6 loss. He has no record and a 9.31 ERA in two starts against Baltimore, the most recent coming Aug. 16.
Baltimore will counter with Jake Arrieta (3-3, 5.40), who has given up five runs in each of his last two outings. The rookie right-hander, who has never faced Kansas City, didn't make it past the fourth inning in Sunday's 10-4 loss to Minnesota.
The Orioles have won 26 of 37 at Kauffman Stadium since the beginning of the 2001 season.
