Starting Five: Royals' Pains

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Royals are fortunate to be 2-3, since they have been outscored by Toronto's Marco Scutaro and Florida's Emilio Bonafacio. Those two players have touched home plate nine times; Kansas City has scored eight runs total, batting .198 as a team. Billy Butler is 1-for-17 with seven strikeouts, David DeJesus is 4-for-21 with six strikeouts, Coco Crisp has a .211 average, Alex Gordon is batting .133, and Miguel Olivo and Mike Jacobs are at .214. Crisp leads the club with three RBI.

Oh, and sore hips forced Jose Guillen to the DL and Gordon out of yesterday's game.

Only two other teams in the past 30 years scored that few runs in their first five games, and they both lost 100 games (the 2003 Tigers and 1988 Orioles). Those two clubs went 0-5; only strong starts by Zack Greinke and Kyle Davies last week in Chicago have kept the Royals from going winless.

"We need to have more quality at-bats earlier," manager Trey Hillman said. "The more pitches you see, the better pitches you get to hit. We're antsy at the plate, swinging outside the strike zone."

From the Trainer's Room ...
Joel Zumaya, whose return from shoulder issues could help Detroit's bullpen, began an injury rehabilitation assignment with Single-A Lakeland and was shaky. In an inning of work, Zumaya had walks and a wild pitch, allowing two runs (one earned).

Numbers Game ...
The winless Indians have gone 5-for-39 (.128) with runners in scoring position through five games. The last time the franchise started 0-6 was 1914, when the team was called the "Naps" and finished 51-102.

In Their Own Words ...
"If you're a baseball fan, which I wasn't at the time, that was an unbelievable at-bat." -- Boston manager Terry Francona on the Angels' Howie Kendrick, who fouled off seven 0-2 pitches from Jonathan Papelbon before lining out to right field, ending the game with the bases loaded; a loss would have dropped the Red Sox three games under .500 for the first time since April 8, 2000.

Advance Scouting ...
Something has to give today in Miami (1:10 PM, ET). Mets starter Johan Santana is 5-0 with a 1.83 ERA in five career starts against the Marlins, while Florida starter Josh Johnson is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA in five career starts against the Mets.