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(Sports Network) - Two teams likely in far different emotional states at the moment begin a four-game series tonight in the Bronx, where the New York Yankees entertain the road-challenged Kansas City Royals.

New York enters tonight's test off an uplifting come-from-behind home victory on Thursday. Jason Giambi provided the heroics with a dramatic two-out, pinch- hit two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Yankees an improbable 9-8 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Giambi followed Hideki Matsui's RBI single by taking an 0-2 offering from B.J. Ryan into the right-field upper deck, capping a three-run ninth-inning rally and giving New York its 10th victory in its last 15 games.

Alex Rodriguez started the comeback with a two-out single off Ryan (1-2) in the ninth, took second on defensive indifference, and scored on Matsui's single to center which cut Toronto's lead to 8-7.

The Yankees were down 7-2 early on in the contest, but drew closer with a two- run fifth inning and Wilson Betemit's two-run homer in the sixth.

Betemit and Bobby Abreu each finished with two hits and a pair of RBI in the win.

Thursday's game also marked the return of catcher Jorge Posada to the Yankee lineup. Posada, who was activated from the disabled list Wednesday, went 1- for-3 in his first action since April 26.

Kansas City comes in having lost 15 of its last 17 and 11 in a row on the road following Thursday's 6-2 setback in Chicago. The Royals have also fared very poorly at Yankee Stadium over the years, having amassed a 2-22 record as the visitor in this series since 2001.

The Royals did win two of three games from the Yankees in Kansas City back in April, however.

In Thursday's loss to the White Sox, Mark Teahen led the Royals by going 2- for-4 with a solo home run. Starting pitcher Gil Meche (3-8) was tagged for five runs (4 earned) and walked four over a shaky 5 2/3 innings of work.

A loss tonight would tie a franchise record for consecutive road defeats for Kansas City, which is 11-21 as the visitor this season. The Royals also lost 12 straight during the 1997 and 2006 campaigns.

The task of breaking that long winless drought falls tonight on Kyle Davies, who's coming off a nice performance in his first major league start of 2008. The right-hander held Cleveland to one run and five hits over five innings this past Saturday, although he did not factor in the decision of Kansas City's 4-2 win.

Davies, a former highly-touted pitcher in the Atlanta Braves system, earned a promotion by recording a 6-2 record and a 2.06 earned run average in 10 starts for Triple-A Omaha.

The 25-year-old's first start as a Royal came at Yankee Stadium last August. Davies was tagged for five runs and six hits over just three innings in that game, but did not receive a decision.

New York counters with another right-hander who began this season in the minors in Darrell Rasner.

The 27-year-old gave the Yankees rotation a needed lift by winning his first three starts since being called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre in early May, but has lost back-to-back outings following that strong stretch.

Rasner had the worst of his five starts Sunday in Minnesota, where he allowed four runs and eight hits in a season-low 5 1/3 innings of work.

Rasner, who has never previously faced Kansas City, has won both of his two 2008 starts at Yankee Stadium and yielded only two runs over a combined 13 innings in those games.