"The day after another eyebrow-raising start from pitcher Gil Meche, Royals manager Trey Hillman indicated he sees nothing beneath the surface inhibiting the team's former ace.

"We don't think it's mechanical or a delivery issue," Hillman said. "We'll keep digging. … Hopefully he'll have a good side session and be better in his next start."

Meche has an 0-2 record and 11.37 earned-run average in three starts since returning from a season-opening stint on the disabled list stemming from a bout of shoulder bursitis that developed during spring training.

Pitching Friday in the series opener against Minnesota, he failed to get through the fourth inning for the second time in those three starts. Meche yielded four earned runs, four hits and five walks in 3 1/3 innings against the Twins while striking out two.

He's now given up 16 runs in 12 2/3 innings.

Hillman doesn't think the problem involves Meche having been slowed during spring training.

"We held off activating him (for his first start), so as far as reps and pitch total and facing hitters, he wasn't really that far behind," Hillman said. "… If it's not anything physical, and I don't see anything mechanical, he's just got to do a better job of locating and throwing strikes - commanding the baseball."

In his first two seasons with Kansas City, Meche anchored the rotation with ERAs of 3.67 and 3.98 before slipping to 5.09 during an injury-plagued 2009 season."