Phillies hope to bounce back against Kansas City

John Lannan makes his Philadelphia Phillies debut on Saturday when they continue a three-game interleague series against the Kansas City Royals at Citizens Bank Park.

Lannan signed a 1-year, $2.5 million deal this offseason with the Phillies after appearing in just six games a year ago for the Washington Nationals. However, he made the most of his opportunities, going 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA.

While he spent most of last year in the minors, the southpaw had made 134 starts for the Nationals since 2007, going 42-52 with a 4.01 ERA. This, though, will be his first appearance against the Royals.

Kansas City will pin its hopes on righty Luiz Mendoza, who followed up an MVP Award in the Caribbean Series with a terrific spring that saw him nab the team's No. 5 starter job from Bruce Chen.

Mendoza was 8-10 last season with a 4.23 ERA in 30 games (25 starts).

In Friday's opener, Chris Getz and Alex Gordon each hit bases-clearing triples as Kansas City scored 13 runs over the final five innings to take a 13-4 win.

Getz and Gordon had three hits apiece for the Royals, who recorded 19 hits. Eric Hosmer went 4-for-5 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored, Alcides Escobar hit a solo homer and knocked in two runs and Lorenzo Cain finished with two RBI and a run scored.

"We've been struggling offensively," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We were really on a tear all spring long, we swung the bats really, really well. You knew it was a matter of time before we broke out and did some damage with our bats. Luckily for us, it was today."

Wade Davis allowed four runs on nine hits over four innings in his Royals debut. Chen (1-0) tossed a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the win.

Erik Kratz and Domonic Brown hit solo homers for the Phillies, while Ryan Howard knocked in a pair of runs.

Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick (0-1) allowed five runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings to take the loss. The bullpen -- Jeremy Horst, Chad Durbin and Raul Valdes -- combined to give up eight runs on 11 hits.

Kansas City last visited Citizens Bank Park back in 2004 when the Phils took two of three.