(My Sportsbook) - Vagabond right-hander Sidney Ponson goes to the mound for the second time in 2009 today when his newest team, the Kansas City Royals, host the Cleveland Indians in the finale of a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium.

A 32-year-old product of Aruba, Ponson is wearing his seventh major-league uniform with the Royals, whom he joined on March 17 when he signed a one-year contract.

The 6-foot-1, 250-pounder reached the big leagues with the Baltimore Orioles in 1998 and stayed through 2003 before a deadline deal sent him to San Francisco.

From there, he went back to Baltimore in 2004 and later played for the New York Yankees, St. Louis, Minnesota, the Yankees again and Texas through 2008, compiling 90 career wins to 107 losses with a 4.95 earned run average.

He was 12-6 while splitting time with the Yankees and Rangers last season over 34 appearances - 33 starts.

This season, Ponson debuted on April 10 against the Yankees and took a 4-1 loss after allowing six hits and four runs in six innings.

He started against Cleveland once last season and allowed eight hits and two earned runs over four innings.

For the Indians, young southpaw Aaron Laffey makes his 2009 debut.

The 24-year-old has 25 major-league starts over parts of two seasons with the Tribe, going 9-9 with a 4.34 ERA in 143 innings.

He made one appearance in the 2007 playoffs as a rookie and allowed a single hit in 4 2/3 innings of relief while walking one and striking out three.

Against the Royals in Kansas City, Laffey is 2-0 lifetime with a 2.45 ERA, but he was tagged for six hits and five earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in a start while beginning the season at Triple-A Columbus.

On Tuesday, John Buck clubbed a pair of home runs, including a grand slam that broke open a close game in the eighth, handing the Royals a 9-3 victory over the Indians.

Buck knocked in five runs while Mike Jacobs and David DeJesus contributed two hits and an RBI each in the win, Kansas City's third in a row.

Kyle Davies (1-0) was able to pick up the win after giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings.

The right-hander struck out five coming off a tough-luck no-decision in his initial appearance of 2009, a scoreless seven-inning outing against the White Sox last Thursday.

Carl Pavano (0-2) surrendered eight hits and four runs over six innings to take the loss. This comes following a nine-run performance in his first start vs. Texas.

The well-traveled 33-year-old saw his earned run average rise to 16.71 but did record eight strikeouts to zero walks on Tuesday.

Mark DeRosa and Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and an RBI apiece for the Indians, who have just one win this season through the first eight games.

Cleveland went 10-8 versus Kansas City last year, taking six of the nine games played at Kauffman Stadium.