(Sports Network) - Rodrigo Lopez tries to bounce back from a disastrous outing in his last start when the Baltimore Orioles play the rubber match of their three-game set with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Lopez, whose name has come up in trade discussions, fell to 6-11 on the season on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, as he was pounded for seven runs and nine hits in just 4 1/3 innings to balloon his earned run average to 6.73.

The 30-year-old right-hander, who is a miserable 1-6 on the road this year with a 7.85 ERA, is 2-2 lifetime against the Royals with a 5.76 ERA in five starts.

Kansas City will counter with left-hander Jimmy Gobble, who is 3-3 with a 4.88 ERA. Gobble received a no-decision in his last start last Thursday against the LA Angels of Anaheim, as he surrendered four runs and six hits in four innings of his team's 9-4 win.

Gobble is 1-0 in his career against the Orioles with a 3.00 ERA in two games (one start).

In the second game of this set on Wednesday Jeff Conine went 4-for-4 with a homer to lift Baltimore to a 4-3 win. Chris Gomez drove in a pair while Nick Markakis finished with an RBI and a run scored for the Orioles, who nearly blew the lead but held on to win their second game in three tries.

Rookie Adam Loewen (1-2) picked up the first win of his major-league career after allowing just one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five-plus innings of work.

Shane Costa knocked in three runs and Emil Brown finished 3-for-3 for Kansas City, which has dropped three of its last four.

Runelvys Hernandez (2-5), meanwhile, surrendered four runs on 10 hits in his five-plus frames to take the loss.

On the injury front Kansas City first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz is questionable for tonight's affair after missing Wednesday's tilt with a back problem.

Baltimore has won 10 of its last 13 meetings with the Royals and is 16-6 in last 22 visits to Kansas City, where it has not lost a series since August of 2000.