The Seattle Mariners will turn to their ace pitcher in hopes of evening a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals that resumes tonight at Safeco Field.

Kansas City put an end to the Mariners' three-game win streak with an 8-4 victory in Thursday's opener of this set. The Royals belted a season-high four home runs and received six solid innings from starting pitcher Kyle Davies to win for only the second time in their last eight contests.

Brayan Pena, Alberto Callaspo and David DeJesus all slugged two-run homers and Yuniesky Betancourt added a solo shot in Kansas City's highest power output since the team also went deep four times against Cleveland on May 23, 2007.

"It's good to see," manager Trey Hillman told the Royals' official site of his club's offensive surge. "(Safeco Field is) a much more friendly ballpark to hit in than the last homestand. The ball gets out better, the conditions were good for the ball to carry and we clicked some."

Davies did his part as well, as the previously-struggling right-hander held Seattle to two runs on five hits while striking out five batters.

Doug Fister wasn't as sharp for the Mariners, with the rookie being reached for five runs and serving up three of the Royals' homers in a six-inning stint.

Jack Wilson finished 2-for-4 for Seattle and had a two-run homer in the ninth inning, the shortstop's first since coming to the Mariners in a five-player traded with Pittsburgh on July 29.

The Royals may find the going tougher in tonight's matchup, with All-Star Felix Hernandez set to take the hill for Seattle. The standout right-hander has amassed a 12-5 record in 26 starts so far this season, while his 2.73 earned run average trails only Kansas City's Zack Greinke for tops among American League hurlers.

Hernandez has been in a bit of a rut this month, however. In four starts since defeating Texas with seven innings of two-run ball on August 1, the 23-year- old has recorded a loss and three no-decisions. In his most recent mound trip, Hernandez allowed six runs (3 earned) on nine hits through six innings of a 6-1 loss at Cleveland on Sunday.

The native Venezuelan had a pair of hard-luck no-decisions versus the Chicago White Sox and Detroit prior to that outing. In those two games, Hernandez yielded only one run and struck out 19 batters over a combined 14 innings of work.

He's yet to oppose the Royals this season, but owns a 2-1 record with a 2.73 ERA in four lifetime starts against tonight's opponent.

Brian Bannister gets the call for Kansas City this evening and will be out to stop a winless stretch of his own. The right-hander is 0-3 with an ugly 9.39 ERA over his last four starts and has given up at least four runs in each of those appearances.

His best start of the bunch did come on Sunday, but Bannister still surrendered four runs over seven innings and was dealt his 10th loss of the season in a 10-3 setback to Minnesota.

Bannister, who has just one victory since July 5, did best the Mariners in Kansas City with six shutout innings back in May, a game in which he tied a season best with seven strikeouts. The 28-year-old is just 1-3 with a 3.71 ERA in four career starts against Seattle, however.

The Royals have won four of six meetings with the Mariners so far this season, five of which have been held in Kansas City, and are 10-3 in their last 13 overall matchups against Seattle.