(Best E Casino) - Don't look now, but the Kansas City Royals are on a roll with five straight victories. Tonight the surging club will open a nine-game homestand with the first of three consecutive meetings versus the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City went 5-1 on a six-game road trip through Arizona and St. Louis and finished off a sweep of the Cardinals with a 4-1 triumph Thursday at Busch Stadium. Mark Teahen finished 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBI for the Royals, who haven't won six straight since opening the 2003 campaign with nine wins in a row.

Zack Greinke was fantastic on the hill for the Royals, as he yielded just two hits and one run with seven strikeouts over seven innings. Joakim Soria pitched a scoreless ninth for his 18th save.

Kansas City, which is 13-18 at home and still last in the AL Central, will hand the ball to Luke Hochevar on Friday. Hochevar was 0-3 in five starts before beating Arizona on Friday with seven decent innings. He gave up three runs, two of which were earned, and 10 hits in the 12-3 beating of the Diamondbacks.

The right-hander has never faced the Giants in his career.

San Francisco will kick off a nine-game road trip against the Royals, Indians and Athletics and is 17-18 as the guest this season. The Giants have dropped two straight and five of six games after suffering a 7-2 setback to Detroit in the finale of a three-game series on Wednesday.

Barry Zito (2-11) continued to struggle for the Giants and lasted just two innings on Wednesday, his shortest outing of the season. He allowed five runs on five hits while walking four and fanning two batters. The former Cy Young Award winner is the first Giants pitcher to drop 11 decisions before the All- Star Break since Livan Hernandez in 2001.

The Giants hope that Matt Cain will have a better showing than Zito when he toes the rubber on Friday night. Cain has dropped two of his last three starts to fall to 3-5 with a 4.39 ERA in 15 starts this season.

In his last start on Saturday versus Oakland, Cain yielded three runs in seven frames of a 4-0 setback at AT&T Park. The Giants are 1-5 in his last six outings.

Cain, a right-hander, has never faced the Royals in his career.

San Francisco and Kansas City are meeting for the first time since the Royals won two of three games by the Bay in 2005. Kansas City is 4-2 in its six matchups with the Giants and 7-2 versus the National League this season.

The Giants are just 1-8 in interleague play in 2008.