ROYALS 3, GIANTS 1
at Scottsdale, Ariz.
Wednesday, March 5

Royals at the plate: Ryan Shealy sliced an opposite-field home run to right leading off the third inning. Justin Huber grounded a fourth-inning RBI single and tripled and scored in the seventh.

Giants at the plate: Four singles, the last by Nate Schierholtz, generated the Giants' eighth-inning run. Schierholtz, Brian Bocock, Rajai Davis and Eugenio Velez each collected two hits.

Royals on the mound: Starter Gil Meche enjoyed a strong tuneup, blanking the Giants on two hits in three innings. Hideo Nomo followed by allowing three hits in three more shutout innings.

Giants on the mound: After allowing eight runs in two-thirds of an inning in his previous outing, Barry Zito improved vastly, yielding one run in three innings. Merkin Valdez struck out the side -- all looking -- in the sixth inning.

Cactus League records: Royals 4-3; Giants 2-6.

Up next: The Royals entertain the Arizona Diamondbacks at Surprise Stadium on Thursday, as Zack Greinke is scheduled to oppose Arizona's Dan Haren. Meanwhile, the Giants go to Tempe to face the Los Angeles Angels. Matt Cain, who pitched three scoreless innings last Sunday against the Cubs, will oppose Angels right-hander Jered Weaver.