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Diamondbacks searching for momentum in clincher with Nats

Sun 1st, June 2008

(Sports Network) - The Arizona Diamondbacks aim to build off a much-needed victory on Saturday when the National League West front-runners play the rubber match of a three-game series with the Washington Nationals today at Chase Field.

The Diamondbacks used an outstanding rebound performance out of ace Brandon Webb and an offensive power surge to finally put an end to a season-long five- game slide last night. Webb threw his first shutout of the season and Arizona blasted four solo home runs to come through with a 4-0 decision over Washington.

Webb (10-2) yielded just six hits and fanned eight Nationals without issuing a walk to record his eighth career shutout. The All-Star right-hander also halted a personal two-game losing streak after opening the season with nine consecutive winning starts.

Mark Reynolds had two of Arizona's four homers, with Chris Young and Justin Upton also going deep in the win.

Jason Bergmann (1-2) surrendered all four long balls but was otherwise solid for Washington. The right-hander gave up just seven hits and struck out eight without a walk in his first complete game in the majors.

The Nationals played last night's test without third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the team's leader in home runs (8) and RBI (27). The young standout has missed six straight games with a sore left shoulder and is unlikely to return this afternoon.

The Diamondbacks had lost nine of their last 11 contests prior to Saturday's triumph and have not won back-to-back games since ripping off four straight victories from May 13-16. Despite the rough stretch, Arizona still owns a 3 1/2-game lead over second-place Los Angeles in the NL West.

Arizona will send Dan Haren to the mound in today's finale, hoping the prized offseason acquisition can turn around his recent lack of success.

Haren won four of his five decisions in an Arizona uniform, but has gone 1-3 over his last four starts and pitched to a mediocre 4.78 earned run average during that stretch. The 2007 All-Star was hit rather hard in his most recent outing, a 6-3 home loss to San Francisco on Tuesday in which he surrendered five runs and nine hits -- including two homers -- over six innings.

The durable right-hander also suffered a defeat at Florida on May 22 after allowing four runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 frames, although he did record a season-best eight strikeouts.

Haren's lone career start against the Washington franchise came during his rookie season of 2003, when the 27-year-old was with St. Louis and the Nationals were still located in Montreal. He threw seven shutout innings in that game to lead the Cardinals to an 11-1 rout.

He also faced the Expos in a relief role in 2004 and was dealt a loss after giving up four runs in just an inning of work.

Washington counters with the tender-armed Shawn Hill, who returned to action on Tuesday after being skipped a turn in the rotation due to a sore elbow. He also spent the seasons first two-plus weeks on the disabled list with the same problem.

The right-hander got through five innings at San Diego on Tuesday and held the Padres to two runs and five hits in a no-decision. Hill managed five strikeouts on the night as well, although he also walked five batters.

The Ontario native will be making his first career appearance at Chase Field today. Hill did pitch against the Diamondbacks in Washington last April and received a tough-luck loss after yielding a pair of runs over 6 2/3 frames.

Saturday's victory was Arizona's eighth win in its last 10 matchups with the Nationals.

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