KANSAS CITY -- It was a long night for Brett Tomko and he didn't even throw a pitch. That will finally happen shortly after 5 p.m. CT on Thursday afternoon.

The Royals' game against the Indians was rained out on Wednesday night, so Tomko will start the first game of a doubleheader.

Brian Bannister, scheduled to start on Thursday anyhow, will go in the second game. The Indians' pitchers will be Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee.

For nearly two hours after game time on Wednesday night, Tomko and his teammates lounged around the clubhouse waiting for officials to make a decision. The game finally was waved off at 8:54 p.m. CT.

"We just hung out and didn't really do anything. Sat in the manager's office for a little while. Sat in the corner over there and we just did a little team bonding," Tomko said.

"But I didn't even get ready. They told me about 6:15 we were on a delay so I didn't stretch out or anything."

As a veteran, Tomko has been in this position before.

"As I told somebody, you just take the bullets out of the gun and re-load it for tomorrow," Tomko said. "And I'll go ... it doesn't bother me."

This is a first, though, for Bannister. He's never worked in a doubleheader in the Major Leagues.

"In the Minor Leagues, it happens quite often," Bannister said. "In the Minor Leagues, it's your only chance to throw a complete game because it's only seven [innings]."

Bannister wasn't certain just how he'd approach working in the second game.

"I'll probably just scout 'em a little bit and, I don't know, iron some clothing," Bannister said, chuckling.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll just keep my body relaxed and I might not even watch the game that much. Just relax and come in late and just pretend like it's a normal start. I haven't really thought about it, it's my first time in the big leagues doing it."

This will be the first doubleheader at Kauffman Stadium since Aug. 18, 2006. The Royals swept the Oakland A's that day, 7-1 and 5-3.

Pitching matchup
Game 1
KC: RHP Brett Tomko (1-2, 3.60 ERA)
Tomko liked the way he threw last Thursday night against the Angels. He went seven innings, his longest outing of the season, and gave up five runs. Yet Tomko believed his pitching was better than in his previous outing when the Twins got just two runs in six innings. Tomko has been throwing strikes and has walked just four in 20 innings. Because he's spent most of his career in the NL, Tomko has faced the Indians just five times. His only victory against them came in 1997, when he was with the Reds and beat Orel Hershiser.

CLE: RHP Fausto Carmona (2-1, 1.96 ERA)
Carmona shook off the control problems that plagued him in his first three starts of the season to turn in an impressive outing against the Tigers' potent lineup last Thursday. He limited Detroit to a run on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Carmona's mechanics had been out of whack in his first three starts of the season, particularly in an eight-walk outing against the A's on April 12. But he seemed to have things back in check this time out.

Game 2
KC: RHP Brian Bannister (3-1, 2.42 ERA)
Bannister felt sluggish from the get-go on Friday night at Oakland and it wasn't a performance up to his previous 2008 standards. He absorbed his first loss. Bannister pitched five-plus innings and finally was ousted by four straight hits in the sixth inning. His stuff wasn't quite as sharp and he used up 86 pitches, just 54 of them strikes.

CLE: LHP Cliff Lee (3-0, 0.40 ERA)
Lee just keeps getting better and better with each outing. On Friday against the Twins, he pitched eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball to earn his third victory of the season. Lee struck out eight Minnesota batters and walked just one, throwing 109 pitches. Lee confused Twins hitters all night and lowered his ERA to 0.40.

Crown points
The fourth annual baseball and softball equipment drive will be held on Friday night prior to the Royals-Blue Jays game. New and used gloves, bats, balls, bases, helmets, shoes and uniforms will be collected from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Gate B by Royals Wives and at Gate A by Guadalupe Center volunteers. The equipment and $5,000 from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund will go to the Guadalupe Center's youth league program. ... The Royals' ERA, best in the American League at 3.17 last Thursday, has ballooned to 4.53 and 10th place. In the last four games, they've given up 38 earned runs. ... So is Alex Gordon dangerous against Carmona or not? Gordon last season was 7-for-14 (.500) against the Tribe's hard-throwing right-hander. But maybe Carmona figured out something. In their last five faceoffs, Gordon was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.

Tickets
 Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• FSN-HD

On radio
• KCSP 610

Up next
• Friday: Blue Jays (A.J. Burnett, 2-1, 6.85) at Royals (Zack Greinke, 3-0, 1.24), 7:10 p.m. CT
• Saturday: Blue Jays (Shaun Marcum, 2-1, 3.42) at Royals (Luke Hochevar, 0-1, 11.57), 6:10 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Blue Jays (Jesse Litsch, 2-1, 6.16) at Royals (Gil Meche, 1-3, 8.00), 1:10 p.m. CT