KANSAS CITY SHORTSTOP ANDRES BLANCO bobbles a ground ball hit by Chicago's Ryan Theriot for an error. The Royals defeated the Cubs, 6-5, on Saturday in Surprise, Ariz.

Surprise, Ariz. ? Mark Prior’s second appearance of the spring was just about as bad as the first. The Chicago Cubs’ All-Star rookie of 2003 may be in danger of not making the rotation at all.

He relieved an effective Ted Lilly starting the fourth Saturday and Kansas City clubbed him around for four runs on four hits in two innings of the Royals’ 6-5 victory.

In two appearances covering 31â3 innings, Prior’s ERA stands at 18.90. He has no strikeouts and has given up eight hits, five walks and a home run.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s not the way I want to pitch. It’s not the way I know I can pitch. So I’ll just keep working on getting back to where I want to be.”

The right-hander, who missed most of 2006 during a third consecutive season of injuries, threw 40 pitches, mostly fastballs that registered in the low- to mid-80s.

He gave up a single and a walk his first inning, then David DeJesus led off the fifth with a home run. Two more walks, Ryan Shealy’s RBI single and a two-run double by Alex Gonzalez completed another bad day for the 26-year-old.

“Right now, I’m just worried about playing. Worried about trying to make myself better,” he said. “When all that comes through at the end, if I make myself better and I’m pitching the way I can, then I’m helping the ballclub. But right now I’m just worried about getting better myself. What I did the last two outings is not the way I want to pitch, no.

“I know I’m better than that.”

Nevertheless, first-year Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he detected improvement.

“He threw the ball a little better,” Piniella said. “Again, he couldn’t get his breaking ball over at all. He’s pitching with one pitch and he’s not locating that pitch. So it’s not really a recipe for success right now.”

Piniella said there’s time for Prior to work things out.

“We’ll keep pitching him,” he said. “That’s what spring training’s for. We’ve got a long way to go in spring training. There’s plenty of time to pick five starters, and we’ll leave it at that.”

Lilly, who signed a four-year, $40 million free agent contract over the winter, went the first three innings and was charged with one run on three hits. He struck out two and did not give up a walk, and was pleased with the progress of a sinker he’s been trying to develop.

“I still don’t have a ton of confidence, but I feel like with each outing I’m seeing results, and that’s one of the things you have to have to build confidence,” he said. “I was able to get a few ground balls today with the exception of one guy who smoked it pretty good.”

Royals’ starter Jorge De La Rosa went three innings and gave up two hits and one run, with three strikeouts.

Shealy had three hits and two RBIs for the Royals and raised his spring average to .391, further solidifying his hold on KC’s first base job.

Royals’ manager Buddy Bell said Prior did not seem like his old self.

“It’s the same motion, but the same stuff wasn’t coming out,” he said.

Royals outfielder Reggie Sanders, who faced Prior many times when he played in the NL, agreed.

“Surprising,” he said. “He didn’t have the velocity I was used to. But maybe he was working on something.”

Cubs catcher Jake Fox, who hit .269 last year in Double-A, made it 6-5 in the ninth with a two-run home run.