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(Sports Network) - Justin Morneau's hot bat has the Minnesota Twins landing in the win column frequently as of late. The slugging first baseman will try to lead his team to a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals this afternoon at the Metrodome.

Morneau is riding a seven-game hit streak and is batting a solid .414 (12- for-29) over that run. He also has a homer, 12 runs batted in -- including a trio of three-RBI games -- and six runs scored over the streak. The left- handed hitter has upped his average to .308 on the season, though he does have just one home run in his last 18 games.

Still, Morneau is providing a spark, as the Twins are 5-2 and are averaging 6.3 runs per game during his hit streak.

Morneau was the catalyst of Wednesday's 11-2 rout of Washington, as he went 2- for-4 with three RBI in the win. Delmon Young and Brian Buscher each chipped in a pair of RBI for the Twins, who have won four of five overall and trail the first-place White Sox by 4 1/2 games in the American League Central.

Kevin Slowey (4-6) got the win after he yielded only one run on seven hits through six-plus frames.

Glen Perkins will try to pitch the Twins to their first three-game sweep of the Washington franchise since June 15-17, 2004, when the Twins bested the then-Expos in Montreal. Minnesota has never swept the Washington/Montreal club at home.

Perkins, though, hasn't won since May 25 versus Detroit. He lost to the Yankees five days later and has since posted three straight no-decisions. He faced the Brewers on Saturday and allowed only three runs for a second straight outing, in addition to eight hits over six innings. He also struck out six on the evening.

The left-hander, who has never faced the Nats before, is 2-2 with a 4.57 earned run average this year.

The Nationals will try to defeat Perkins today, which would allow them to end their nine-game road swing above .500. Washington fell to 4-4 on the trek with yesterday's loss.

Washington's bats have gone cold in Minnesota, as the team has scored just three runs in two games after posting 18 in sweeping a three-game set with Seattle last weekend.

Cristian Guzman and Elijah Dukes had three hits apiece on Wednesday for the Nationals, while Felipe Lopez had a solo home run in the fifth inning.

Jason Bergmann (1-5) took the loss after he was touched for three runs -- one earned -- on five hits in six innings.

Shawn Hill goes for Washington today and finally picked up his first win of the season last Friday after going 0-3 over his first nine starts. It was his first victory since September 10 of last year.

The right-hander got the best of Seattle on Friday in what was actually one of his poorest starts of the season. Hill gave up five runs (4 earned) on a season-high 12 hits over five frames, but was backed offensively in a 7-6 win.

Hill is 1-3 with a 4.61 ERA on the season and faces the Twins for the first time ever today.

These teams also played a three-game set in Minnesota last season, with the Nationals winning two of those tests.